Heroes of our time: Redemption
by AngelusColt
Summary: After regaining his memories Michael Angelus Colt  now known as Angel tries to make amends for the horrible things he did in life by trying to find a way to defeat Phthonos, the god of jealousy.
1. Who Am I?

Author's Notes: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Heroes of Olympus. This story is without any character from the original series except for the rare mentions of the characters and the events from the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. Not all of this story is only me as most of the characters were created by other Percy Jackson fans like me. I hope you enjoy it :) Please if you find the time review, a eye on my mistakes will improve my writing more than silence.

Chapter 1 Who am I?

I guess the scariest part was not being able to remember my own name. Some people would tell you that names are just words to call a person but they're so much more. You know a person by their name. Which means everything you know about them is tied to that name. Forget the name, you forget who it is. If you never heard the name Hercules you wouldn't know that he was an ancient Greek hero. If you can't remember your own name, you wouldn't know who you are. Of course, everything about waking up with amnesia was scary. Especially in my state. I was bleeding all over and I barely had the strength to walk. I kept my eyes open while laying there among the stones and branches. I wanted to sleep, I was feeling so very tired. But something told me not to fall asleep. Of course with a bit of medical knowledge you'd know that going to sleep while in that condition would probably be fatal. I would get into a coma first. And if the bleeding wasn't stopped very soon I would probably die within the next four hours. I was always good at knowing the facts. I only knew about things I was interesting in, and medical knowledge was one of them. Not so that I could perform first aid. Simply so that I could keep myself from dying, and could make sure others would die. Of course I didn't remember why I knew how to keep myself from dying or where I learned these things. I just knew how to do it. Its like chess or monopoly. I remembered how the games were played, every single rule was planted in my head yet I couldn't remember ever playing. Yet I didn't remember all of my skills at that moment. Of course most of them I didn't need at that moment. None of my skills could help at that moment. The only thing that could help was a doctor. But since I was in the middle of the woods, I wasn't really expecting anyone to pop up any time soon. Especially not a doctor. If one did, some higher power must have been helping me out. If I only knew...

I didn't have any identification on me. Meaning I still didn't know my own name, birthplace, even my age was a mystery to me. I could have been 49 for all I knew. For some reason though, even in that state I felt younger than 49. It was scary that I didn't know for sure. I was scared for the first time I looked in the mirror. What would I look like? Everyone knows about what they look like. Not being able to remember my own face was...disturbing. What colour hair did I have? Was it long, short. Was my face round or sharp? What was the colour of my eyes? I wondered about all these things and no matter how much I tried I couldn't remember. I wondered if I was good looking or if I was an ugly guy. It was shallow I suppose but looks were more important than people like to admit. A first impression is by nothing but looks. No matter how nice of a guy you are if you look like a creep that's what you'll always be. A fat kid eats too much, a Goth cuts his arms open every night stereo types like these shaped the world. The first impression was a monster of the human mind. So what would be the one I would make? I had no idea if I had the right to be confident about my looks or if I should shy away. I had no face, no name...no identity.

I must have lain there for at least ten minutes before I made an attempt to move. I had cuts all over me. I could feel dried up blood all over my body. I was in so much pain. With a lot of effort though, I got up to my feet. My knees were shaking and my sight was blurry. I was wearing a few rags which probably used to be a T-shirt and simple jeans. It was warm, the sun was high in the sky. My pockets were empty and the only two remarkable object I had were a silver pendant in the shape of an Angel. I couldn't remember how I got it. I couldn't remember the importance it had to me. The other object was a celestial bronze sword. It was about four feet and its hilt seemed quite long for a simple sword. As if it was meant to be held with two hands instead of one. The blade was covered in blood. It was dried up but whatever happened, it happened recently. At that moment I was sure that I didn't get wounded because of some horrible kitchen accident. I had been fighting, with a bronze sword apparently. It made me question what year it was. As far as I remembered it was the 21st century but the sword made it look as if I was right back in ancient Greece. After all the sword looked like it was from that time although it was in perfect condition. I was scared of the sword in a way. I was here nearly dead, but what about the person I had been fighting? I was half dead what condition was he in? The sword probably had my fingerprints all over it, if he was dead somewhere in these woods than I would be a murderer! That sword was the murder weapon. I needed to hide it, and very fast. I picked it up and was surprised by how light it was. How the hilt seemed to adjust to my hand. I could barely read the lettering on the side of the blade. I didn't know why but reading the letters seemed even tougher than standing. Eventually I made out: 'Shadow-edge' whatever that meant. I looked around to find a place to hide it. I had already decided to bury it but where? And how would I make sure I wouldn't lose it? Eventually I decided to mark a big oak with the letters SE. I would probably be able to find it. After that I started digging. Not too deep nor too wide. Just enough the hide the sword. The little stones and hard pieces in the dirt hurt my fingers badly. Digging a hole in the thick black dirt was hardly a work for two human hands. The dirt collected underneath my fingernails and as the hole grew bigger as did the uncomfortable feeling in my fingers. When the hole was nearly deep and wide enough my fingers felt numb. I stretched them from open palms to a clenched fist to make movement easier as I lay the sword in the hole. Closing it was far easier. With my foot I shoved the dirt back in it's place and flattened it with a flat palm. You could obviously see that there had been digging but it would have to do. Who would find it in the middle of the woods?

Once I was finished, I felt even worse then before. I needed to lie down, and I didn't feel like crashing another night in the woods. I needed to find some form of civilization, a town or a farm maybe. I had no idea where I was, the nearest settlement could have been miles away. I didn't know, but worrying about that was foolish. I had to go in a direction and hope that I would find some sign of civilization. If I didn't...I was dead meat. I started walking. The farther I came the more pain I felt. I felt light-headed and I could feel my heart beating in my head. Not far ahead I could see a stop in the vast line of tree's. It could have been a meadow, I was hoping for a town or whatever though. I came closer and closer although it was very slowly. My legs were getting heavier and the pain was agonizing. When I reached the end of the line what I saw amazed me. It looked like a summer camp. It had cabins set in a circle and some more cabins around it. They seemed newer and all of them looked so different and...weird. There was a big house and many Greek style buildings. I couldn't really make out what they all were but they looked ancient. Yet many things seemed very modern. There were kids of all ages running around. Also there was a beach. The waves were calmly crashing on the shore, the sea was calm today. I myself was on a large hill making the camp somewhat of a valley. I wondered what kind of summer camp it was, and as far as I knew it wasn't summer. But none of that mattered. I only hoped they could get an ambulance here very soon. I started making my way down the hill slowly. It took me a lot of effort not to lose my balance. Eventually, that effort became too much. My legs couldn't hold me any longer and I started to tumble down the hill. I didn't expect to survive the fall. Mostly because I passed out during the tumbling. Yet when I woke up I was proven wrong.

The bed I was laying in was comfortable. The blankets were thick and the pillow was warm making me want to switch to the cool side of the pillow (works every time.) How long had I been here? How long was I passed out? Was I still at the place I looked over from the hilltop? I had so many questions burning in my mind. The most important one: who am I? It was a question I hoped to get answered soon. If I was so close to this summer camp I must have been a camper here. That seemed logical at least. I couldn't remember anything about the camp though, then again I couldn't remember anything. The room I was in was mostly wooden boards. The roof, the walls, the floor. Everything was like that. Was I in one of the cabins I had seen? Other than that the room had one door leading to God knew where. There were many beds in the room and it smelled like a hospital although the room didn't resemble a hospital in any way. All the beds looked the same and there was a cupboard near the door which probably held painkillers and such. I thought it would anyway. All the other beds were empty except for one. I couldn't tell who was in that bed, but someone was in there, that was certain.

That's when a young girl came in. She was 13, 14 maybe. She had long blonde hair with a streak of light blue in it. She seemed nice, at least I believed so. She had a smile on her face and looked like she did that a lot. She was casually dressed in jeans and a T-shirt saying: camp half-blood. Apparently that's what the camp was called. I thought it was a bit of a weird name for a kids summer camp but whatever. It had confirmed that I was still at that camp though. At least it was one question answered.

"You're awake!" She said happily.

"Yeah." I didn't really know what else to say. I didn't remember her even if I did know her. She was probably going to ask how I got so cut up. I wish I had the answers.

"You should be happy the ambrosia and nectar still worked. You were nearly gone and once you're dead they don't really help any more. Just like mortal medicine I suppose." Much of what she said worried me. Nectar? Ambrosia? Mortal medicine? I had no clue what she meant. What the hell was this some sort of fantasy camp? "So what monster got to you? Hell hound? Empusa? I don't hope it was something worse!" Monsters? Could this get any worse? Was this some kind of prank?

"What are you on about? Monsters aren't real. And what the hell are nectar and ambrosia?" I was starting to think I was on the mental ward of the hospital. Maybe I said some weird stuff in my sleep which made the doctors think I was mad. If they had found a body in those woods and knew it was me then maybe I was in police custody. No, that couldn't be right. They wouldn't let this young girl near me if they did believe I was a murderer. She had to be mental. How could anyone who is sane believe monsters were real?

"So you are new to this all? Did your mom or dad drop you off here? We get many like that." She said. Parents, I didn't remember them. Where were my mom and dad? Wouldn't they have been called in given the shape I was in? Wasn't there a parent worrying about me? There was only this mental girl here. Where was my family? "Well anyway since you past the barrier you must be one of us. Uhm do you know your biological mom or dad?" She asked. I wondered why she said or. Like one of the parents wasn't around. I didn't know what to think of all of it. What I did know was that this girl truly believed this stuff. Meaning she was either crazy...or what she was telling me was the truth. I couldn't believe that though. Logic wouldn't allow me to.

"I don't know. I can't remember. Not anything at all actually." I said.

"Not anything? Well that makes it even tougher to explain." She said smiling. Apparently she found it quite funny. Which again made me think she was mental. How could amnesia be funny? My entire identity had been erased. Everything she knew about her family, her friends. I didn't have any of that. How could she smile about that? "Let's hope your memories get back to you soon." She said. It was easy for her to say.

"Yeah." Again I answered shortly. I didn't really know what else to say. Apparently I wasn't very good with words. Maybe that was something I always had. Maybe it was because I had no memories and that my personality changed because of that.

"Well uhm. You're not like most people out there. Do you remember Greek gods?" She asked him. I wondered why that mattered. I did remember them. I seemed to remember most academically related things. History, maths, my rights if I got arrested (don't ask me why I knew that) and some other things.

"Well everything about it. Monsters, the gods, demigods, its all real. And we're demigods. Children of the gods and mortals." She said. You can probably imagine that this was quite a shock. I didn't know why but I believed her instantly. As if somewhere in the back of my head I knew. Maybe I did know but I couldn't remember. I sat up, I had to think about this. That's when I noticed something. All my wounds. They were all gone. The blood was still their, I could feel it. But every single cut was gone. They hadn't even become scars. Although there were still many others. I didn't remember any of them. What was the point of scars if I didn't remember how I got them? Scars, mentally or physically reminded you of your past. Mistakes you made or pain that you experienced. Scars shaped a person. I had the scars, but not the explanation.

"How? All my wounds, their all gone!" I said. I was shocked. Just as I asked I figured it had to be the ambrosia and nectar she had been talking about. That stuff was amazing. How could it heal wounds that were so severe? I didn't understand any of it. A doctor would have called it a miracle but the girl seemed to think it was completely normal.

"Like I said. Ambrosia and nectar. Its food and drink for the gods but we demi's use it for medicine. It heals pretty much any wound instantly. Yours weren't that severe but there were a lot of them and you lost a lot of blood." She said. She seemed to know a lot about this stuff. And I knew nothing about demigods or monsters. I had a lot of questions to ask her. I figured I would be polite and start by asking her name.

"So what's your name?" I asked her trying to smile. This was all very weird to me but I figured I should be nice to her. Up until now she had given me nothing but kindness, it seemed right that I gave her kindness in return.

"I'm Grace Harper, daughter or Iris." She said with her eternal smile. It was one of the things I liked about her. She was always so happy. A thing I wished I could be but it was very hard for someone like me.

"Iris?" I didn't know many of the Greek gods and goddesses so I had to ask. It seemed fairer than acting like I knew. I didn't really know what I was supposed to do in that situation but I did what seemed best.

"She's the goddess of rainbows and colours. Doesn't sound very important but she also takes care of the way we communicate with each other long distance." I wondered what Grace meant by that. Colours and rainbows didn't seem very related to cellphones and the internet. Maybe that was an error of my thinking though.

"So how does that work?" I was curious. I didn't understand any of this so I had to find out as much as I could.

"Well demigods can't use things like cellphones. If we use them any monster in a ten mile radius knows where we are. It's pretty much a free dinner flare if you know what I mean." I nodded. I decided not to ask how that worked. It seemed easier not to understand everything about this. Like science or maths. You don't have to understand, you just have to know that that's how it is. "So we have Iris messaging or IM'ing. We create a sort of small sized rainbow and in the mist we can see each other. Well if you throw a golden drachma in." I was just about to ask when she answered my question. "A drachma is money from the ancient times. It's still being used in the world of the gods for things like that. Same with the dead. We give them two drachmas for the ferryman." I remembered that from mythology. With two drachmas Charon the ferryman of the dead would ship the souls of the dead over the river Styx into the underworld.

"Okay, I guess I understand." I really didn't. These were the kinds of things you wouldn't get used to until you experienced them many times. That's exactly what happened. I grew very comfortable with these things as I got used to them. But that's all future talk.

"That's good." Again that kind smile she always wore. Some days I wondered how she kept that up. Smiling too long hurt my muscles. "So are you ready for the tour?"

"Tour?"

Looking at camp half-blood from the hill top was a weird experience but walking among the buildings and campers was plain disturbing. The infirmary I was laying in was part of the big house I had seen. It was a sky blue building which was said to house the camp leaders and security guard (a guy with eyes all over apparently.) We went further up camp passing volley ball fields and basketball courts. We passed a place for arts and crafts and finished at an amphitheater built identically like one in ancient Greece. It was one of the buildings that had stood out when I was on top of the hill.

"We usually have people play instruments here and sometimes we do sing along with the Apollo cabin here." Grace explained. I wondered if this sing along thing was mandatory. I hoped not. Singing with the gang didn't really seem like something for me.

We continued past a lake following a small creek towards the climbing wall. Grace wanted to give an explanation of that but it was pretty obvious. We took a small arched wooden bridge over the creek and came out at another Greek building.

"We call this the mess hall or the dining pavilion." Grace said. "This is where we eat. Every god and goddess has their own table for their children. Just like with the cabins." Grace said.

"How does that work?" So many questions. Grace never seemed sick of answering. A never ending kindness that I never understood.

"It's easier to explain when we're at the cabins." Grace said. I had seen the cabins. They were all different unlike cabins at most summer camps. I always imagined those cabins as simple wooden cabins that anyone can get at IKEA. But these cabins were all unique. The first line was set in an omega and another set of cabins behind shaped the same way. The ones in the back seemed newer as if they had a major increase in campers recently, or something like that. "Every cabin represents a god or goddess. Cabin number one is Zeus' cabin, number two is Hera's and so on." The first cabin looked like a mausoleum more than anything. All white marble with big pillars keeping it up. It was the biggest of them all. "Of course Hera isn't really inhabited. There aren't even any beds in there." Grace said.

"Why is that?" I wondered why Hera's cabin was deserted. If in each cabins stayed the children of that specific god than why would Hera's be empty?

"Hera is the goddess of marriage. She doesn't have any demigod children as it's cheating on Zeus." That seemed logical.

"If Hera is that strict about it all than she probably doesn't really like any of us." It seemed like simple logic in my opinion.

"She doesn't. She's been known to try to kill quite a few of us especially the children of Zeus." Grace said. It seemed logical to me. Her husband having children with some kind of mortal woman, that would piss her off. It had to feel pretty bad for the children of Zeus though. They had an immortal enemy from birth just for being born. No one deserved to be hated just because they were born. It seemed like a heavy burden to me.

"Does Zeus have any children here?" I asked. I wondered if there were any people at camp that had to carry the burden of Hera's wrath. I felt for them in a way and personally hoped that I wasn't a child of Zeus.

"Well he has a couple in this day and age but only one at camp at the moment. Her name is Adele Frye. She's nice as far as I know her. She keeps to herself. Not one of the proud daughters of Zeus." Grace said. I just nodded. "Anyway, the children stick together in the cabins and at the mess hall every cabin has their own table." Grace said as we made our way towards the final few sights of camp. There was the sword arena, a Colosseum like building where demigods could train with their weapons. There were the stables were pegasi, winged horses, were kept and finally there was the armoury. The main weapon storage of camp and the forge where weapons, vehicles and a few very interesting personal projects were being constructed every day. It was the Hephaestus children that did most of the work in there. Their dad being the god of forges made it their territory. There were also the strawberry fields. The sweet smell of strawberries filled you before you could actually see the fields. It was the main cover up for camp half-blood. To the entire world camp half-blood was a company that grew strawberries. "So that's everything." Grace said.

"Not really." I asked. "Where do I stay? I have no idea who my godly parent is." I couldn't remember a thing so if I was supposed to know I could tell her.

"Well you're not supposed to know yet. We call it being unclaimed. Eventually your mother or father will claim you as their child and then we'll know. Until then you'll stay at the Hermes cabin. Hermes is the god of travellers so that's where the unclaimed stay." Grace said. So that's where we went, cabin eleven the Hermes cabin. It was the simplest cabin in my opinion. Simple brown paint and simple design. Nothing flashy like the others. It was well crafted and made the last. "So before we go in, what should we call you?" Grace asked me.

"It sounds like you're trying to name a puppy." I said as a joke. I replied quickly without thinking about what I said. Maybe my parent was the god of quick wit. At first I thought I was rather quiet guy but trying to be funny and nice seemed to fit me better.

"Maybe I am." She said laughing a bit. I looked at her with my eyebrows raised and a cheeky smile. There were names racing through my head. All were normal names though. I didn't want to give myself a real name. Calling myself Tim while my name was Adam would be confusing. I needed a nickname that wasn't all too weird and that people could forget once I told them my real name. That's when I remembered the pendant. I figured that it would do.

"Call me Angel I guess." I said.

"What are you a church boy?" She said giggling. I gave her the same look I did before until I pulled out the pendant from underneath my shirt. The silver pendant shaped like an angel. The question of how I got it burned in my mind. It was a reminder of my amnesia. I had tried to just act as normally as I could and tried to move the amnesia and the questions of my past to the back of my head. But seeing the pendant made that impossible.

"Its the only thing I had on me. I don't know how I got it but I guess it helped me figure out a temporary name." I said.

"Yeah, I guess it will do. It fits you I suppose. I have to go by the way. I have archery class in a bit and I should tell Chiron you woke up and that I showed you around. You should go introduce yourself to the people in the cabin." She said. Chiron...wasn't he a centaur? If I was right he was the one that trained Hercules...but that meant he was thousands years old. Could that be?

"Okay, I'll see you later then?" I asked her. I quite liked Grace. And since she was the only person I knew I would hate not to be able to speak to her anymore.

"Yeah sure. I'll see you around Angel." She said and she walked off. I walked inside of the cabin ready to face my cabin mates as the new kid. I didn't remember my past but everyone knows being the new kid is a bad thing. I wondered if that was any different at camp half-blood. After all we were half divine, did that mean we were less cruel than regular teenagers? Half god...it was something that still had to sink in with me. There was much I still had to learn about this and about my past. I guess learning all started with entering the Hermes cabin. So that's what I did without a doubt on my mind.


	2. By the Way Monsters Exist

Chapter 2: By the way...monsters exist

I don't think you can imagine how weird it was to look at my own face in the mirror. Its like looking at yourself but the face you see isn't yours. I had extremely dark eyes. You could only see the difference between my pupil and my iris if you looked very closely. I had short black hair, not much longer than military style. I had black lines underneath my eyes, I didn't sleep a lot. I was tall, about 6 foot 2 and I guessed I was about fifteen years old. There were a few hairs growing on my chin but no major hair growth. I had a load of scars covering pretty much every part of my body. Cuts, gaps that looked like I had been stabbed there. And a round scar which seemed like a bullet wound in my left shoulder. Most remarkable was the burning mark that ran over the right side of my back and my arm. It looked like an old wound. Something that happened years ago. I couldn't remember how I got any of these marks and scars. How had I gotten them? That was the million dollar question right now. If every scar had a story than what was mine?

I thought I looked weird, even though it was a very normal face. I wondered if I saw more imperfections because it was the first time I looked. It was like meeting a random person in the crowd only I was meeting myself. It was me but it wasn't who I imagined. Then again how can you imagine you're own face? I had never seen it, well not as far as I remembered. At first it was not knowing my own name that scared me. But looking in my own eyes and not knowing the person I was looking at. That frightened me so much more. I wondered if I looked like my parents. Who were my parents? I didn't even know if the god I belonged to was male or female. I wondered if I looked more like my mortal parent or my immortal one. I figured that the immortal one was more active within a demigod child, something I was right about but the truth was that I wished that I resembled my mortal parent more. Even when I had amnesia I didn't like to think of myself as a demigod. I always wished I could just be a regular bloke but with my heritage that seemed impossible. I wondered if a demigod had pulled it off to live a normal life among mortals. I begged that there was at least one, that would give me hope that I could be the second.

Camp for me was weird. I didn't know what to do, where to go. It was all so strange to me, everything was. Maybe it was because I didn't remember anything, maybe because I was in a world where monsters were real and I was half god. There were only two places where I felt like I could relax. The beach, and the woods. I heard that the woods were dangerous, but I didn't see why. It was calm there, no one bothered me. I could be alone with my thoughts and the soft sounds of the wildlife around me. Multiple people had advised me to go to the armoury and get myself a weapon. Of course I still had the sword Shadow-edge hidden at the base of a tree and I didn't feel like I needed a weapon. After all what could really hurt me? I was told the magical border of camp kept demigods safe from monsters and what were the chances of me running into one in the woods? I was naive, of course I didn't realize that then. I guess no one really realizes their mistakes until they're too late. And I was definitely too late that day.

I was strolling through the woods as I had done the last few days. The woods completely surrounded camp. Hills and woods was the natural environment around camp and most of it was beyond the safety of camp half-blood. Something I learned the hard way. I made an awful lot of noise, I didn't even try to be careful. I walked and walked simply digging through my own thoughts trying to find my lost memories. Of course I returned from my own mind empty handed. I couldn't remember anything. People say that what you go through in your life shapes you as a person, I guess they are right. At that moment I wondered. If I don't remember going through anything, does that mean that I'm not a person? Maybe I wasn't, I wasn't the real me, that's for sure. As my mind tried to work out my memories I sat down at the tree where I buried my sword. The initials SE still carved deeply into its trunk. Around me I heard soft noises. The leaves moving because of the wind. A few birds singing their songs. Their were off noises though. Leaves rattling weirdly. Twigs breaking as something heavy stepped on them. The noises came closer and closer. Someone, or something was moving towards me. I got up slowly, if it was a monster it was smart not to make a noise. If anyone saw me they would believe I was calm but my heart was beating faster than I though was possible. I knew that my sword wasn't far underneath my feet but this thing was coming closer fast. How did I know it was a thing? I can't say that I can remember. I guess it was the rhythm of its footsteps. For one there seemed to be more than two. Secondly it was going fast yet obviously prowling. It was chasing someone, in this case me. A person would have a relaxed steady pass. It wouldn't be trying to get around me, to get the best place to jump me and kill me quickly. This was a thing for sure. I crouched down and started digging hysterically. My heart was pounding, I was looking around me in all directions but I couldn't see whatever was hunting me. I heard it jump just as I felt the hilt of the sword. I pulled it out of the dirt as fast as I could while looking straight in the monsters face. It was the ugliest dog I had ever seen. The blood-lust in it's eyes was obvious. It wanted to kill me, it was the only thing in the monsters thought. For a moment I was sure I was done for. That was the second time in barely a week. I wouldn't be fast enough to even raise the sword before this thing got to me. That's when salvation came. The monster's head turned to the right. I wanted to see whatever it was it saw but my eyes couldn't turn away from this abomination. The thing cried out in pain before it dusted up. I couldn't believe my eyes. That thing had tried to kill me and now all that was left of it was dust and a celestial bronze dagger barely a quarter length of my sword. The blade was covered in a black liquid, the monsters blood. My eyes were still focused on what used to be the monster, that's when a voice called out to me.

"Hey mate, you all right over there?" The voice sounded heavy yet cheerful, he had an obvious British accent. The guy himself was tall, well built and had medium length blonde hair. The most interesting thing though was that his left hand was pure bronze. I wondered if it was a glove or his hand. It didn't look like a glove but could it really be his hand I wondered. I stopped staring at the thing. It seemed rude. He had a cheeky smile on his face. He obviously enjoyed killing that thing. Not in a sadistic sense, maybe as a sort of sport. At the time I didn't understand it. I was shaking all over. Shadow-edge was tightly clamped between my fingers. I was not letting go of that sword for a long time. "You know a sword is a lot more useful when its not dug in. And that better not be one of mine." He said. I had no clue what he meant at first. The thought that he was a son of Hephaestus didn't even pop into my head. He tried to grab the sword. I didn't let it go easy. I wasn't resisting on purpose, I just didn't want to let go of that weapon. Eventually he got sick of pulling the small part of the hilt that was left for his hands and pulled my entire arm to have a look at the sword. "No it definitely isn't mine. I can't say who made it though. It looks old, well crafted too." I really had no clue what he was on about. The sword looked like it was fresh out of the forge. "How did you get it?"

"I can't remember. I've got amnesia." I didn't mind saying it. It was better than having to lie when someone asked about my parents or anything of my past life really. Hell I couldn't even tell them what music I liked. I still had knowledge of music and bands, mostly rock and metal so I figured I liked those. But I couldn't remember ever listening to any song that I could remember. Amnesia was definitely confusing.

"Well you must have gotten it somewhere. This wasn't made here that's for sure. Ah well it might come back to you. Usually amnesia doesn't last long especially with us demigods." He said. He didn't think Amnesia was weird or asked how I got it. Maybe there were more that had it. I didn't know, and didn't especially care. I had amnesia, what others thought of it didn't bother me.

"I supp..." I was cut off. The guy put his index finger on his lips signing me that I had to be quiet. He heard something. And now so did I.

"Oh Its a big one." He said. "Are you ready?"

"For what exactly?" I asked as I got up and held the sword the way it seemed right. The guy It was shorter than mine and the shape was different. His seemed more classical Greek while mine seemed more medieval.

"I don't know. That's the exiting part." He said with a big smile on his face. Now I was completely sure, this definitely was a sport to him. I was as ready as I could. I was scared as hell, but now at least I was prepared. And I was with someone with a lot more experience with these things. I guess that made me feel safer. That feeling lasted until the monster knocked down a tree because of its size and speed. After all it was about the size of a Volvo. It had the body of a lion with a weird looking tail. Its right eye was closed and it had a scar over its eye lid. And when it saw the guy that was standing next to me, it seemed really, really pissed.

"Its you!" Apparently that feeling was mutual. The expression on the guys face changed completely. He focused on nothing but this monster, its face spoke rage. I guessed that the monsters scar was caused by a certain bronze handed demigod. I was scared, yes. But I never felt that good. The adrenaline was pumping through me. My heart beat was of the record and my senses were at a level that I couldn't imagine was possible. I noticed every tiny muscle in the monster tensing, I knew how it was going to move simply by looking at it. "Look out!" I heard the other guy yell. A spike about the size of a dagger came flying towards me. I ducked as quick as I could. The spike flew right past my face and into a tree behind me. It was going at an incredible speed and the fact that I dodged it seemed like a miracle.

"Thanks for the heads up." I said. So it could shoot spikes, it had giant claws and teeth that could crush a motorcycle, we needed a plan. "You got any plans?" I asked him. He looked around him, he was trying to think of something. We couldn't take this thing in a frontal attack. That's when I spotted something. Behind the monster there was an old tree. Parts of it were falling apart but it was high. Bringing it down wouldn't take a lot of effort. If I could cut it at the right angle it could crush this thing or at least slow it down. "Do you think you can distract it for a while?"

"No problem." The guy said. The monster was already focused on him, all I had to do was get behind the thing. I didn't run nor did I move slowly. I was quiet, I didn't make a single noise. I went around the thing. Hiding behind trees and bushes until I reached the tree I needed. I could yell out to the monster and then cut the tree. But I needed the tree to fall on the monsters back. Once a person or animals back is broken they're pretty much helpless. I hoped the same thing went for monsters. I spend about half a minute figuring out the perfect angle before I made a huge swing at the rotten tree trunk with Shadow-edge. The tree fell towards the monster. Not exactly where I wanted it though. The tree broke in mid-air, one piece landed beside the monster nearly hitting my ally. The other fell on the monsters back like planned. It seemed stunned. The monster had no idea where it came from but somehow he figured it had to be something the guy in front of him did. The monster hated him that much was obvious. It was like I didn't even exist which gave me a chance to attack. Sadly not much. It was now wildly attacking the other guy with his front claws. He seemed to be doing all right but I didn't know how long he would last against this thing. I saw only one way to attack this thing. It was a stupid idea, but the only one I had.

"Hold on man, just a little longer." I said. I started sprinting towards the monsters side.

"Easy for you to say." He said as he was dodging claws and trying to fight back. I myself did the stupidest thing I had ever done. I jumped on the monsters back. I was planning to stab the thing in the back of the head or its neck which would probably kill it. Sadly that plan didn't work. His tail wasn't quick enough to hit me out of the air but he knocked away my sword. So I was on top of this thing...without any weapons, well done Angel. I didn't know what to do at first. I couldn't do the thing any damage. That was when I noticed something. I didn't know why, but the tail was aiming for me. This thing was going to shoot a spike at me while I was on its back. I wondered if it was reflex for the monster, if the tail had a life of its own or if this thing was plain stupid. Either way, if I was quick enough to dodge, the monster would hit himself. It was worth a shot. The monster was hesitant for a while, but eventually he shot. I let myself drop to the side and onto the solid ground. The monster howled, the spike had hit in the monsters shoulder blade. Black blood was coming out of the wound. Now the monster did notice me. It didn't just notice me, it turned its full attention to me. He set his pawn onto my chest and stuck his claws deep into my flesh. If you have ever had a cat pad all over you. Imagine the claws being about ten times bigger and that claw padding your chest, then you can imagine about half the pain I felt. I tried to get the claw off me. I tried to reach for Shadow-edge even though it was about 12 feet away. Every move I made the claws pushed further into my flesh. The monster was looking straight at me. It knew that this would be a slow death. It wanted me to suffer. Luckily, the other guy was still around. I saw him using the spike that the monster had shot in himself to lift him on the monsters back. The only difference from my, and his attempt at doing this. He still had his sword. I didn't see it. But I knew that he stabbed it right in the neck like I planned to. I felt the huge pressure lift off my chest as the monster disintegrated into black dust. Blood was streaming out of my chest and the pain was agonizing. I couldn't breathe right. My lungs didn't seem to be working correctly. Had one collapsed? I wasn't sure, I had some medical knowledge but not all that much. The other guy was on his knees coughing his lungs out. He had gotten some of the dust into his mouth, didn't seem like it tasted very nice.

"Okay, manticore dust, not very tasty." He said through the coughing. He was a joker all right. Then again he wasn't the one close to death. He had a few scratches but nothing major. He came running towards me with something in his hand. "Here have some of this mate." He said and he handed me some nectar. I felt better immediately. The wounds didn't close completely, maybe they were too severe. But I was all right for now. My breathing stabilized and I could feel my body relaxing. Nectar was amazing stuff. It had pretty much stopped bleeding and most of the pain was gone. The adrenaline had left my body. I was tired and the pain became even worse. With some help I was able to sit up against a tree. "The name's Luke Ford, son of Hephaestus. What do we call you amnesia kid?" Again the naming a puppy thing. I couldn't bother to say anything about it now though.

"They call me Angel, for now anyway." I said. "Nice to meet you Luke." I said.

"And you." He said. He was panting, he was just as tired as me. "Come on mate, we have to get you to the infirmary. Can you walk?" He asked. He offered me a hand to get up. I reached for it and he pulled me up. Moving hurt, standing hurt even more. But I wasn't weak, I had to stand on my own two legs. I started making my first few steps back to camp. I stumbled a bit and Luke watched closely to make sure I didn't drop down without him noticing. Eventually I was fine, we walked slowly but steadily. We were deep into the woods and at this pace it was going to take us about twenty minutes to get back. I thought it was a good opportunity to get some answers.

"So why do you hate that thing so much? You obviously fought it before." I asked him. The monster must have gotten away that time. I was pretty sure that Luke caused that scar. Why else would the monster hate him so much?

"Well last summer, nearly a year ago now. That thing killed my sister. I got it that time. I give him that pretty eye lash that you probably noticed." Bingo. "I killed him but you see, monsters come back after some time. Not matter how many times we kill them they always come back. We kill them so that the generation after us can kill them again. And that's with the slow ones. I've fought this one twice and apparently a friend of mine killed it in New York a few months back."

At that moment I didn't get the point of killing this things at all. In the old stories it usually was about killing a monster to save the day. But if they always came back what was the point? "My condolences man." I said. I didn't really know what else to say. It sounded stupid but I thought of cracking a bit of a joke. "Well at least you got to avenge your sister twice." I said. He didn't seem very amused.

"Yeah I suppose." He said. He was looking down to the ground. He seemed down, I couldn't blame him. "I was there when she died. She got killed right in front of me. By one of the spikes you dodged twice. It got her right in the heart, pinning her to a tree. It was horrible. You know, you probably hate the fact that you have amnesia. But if I were you I would cherish it. I have a lot of memories I wish I could forget. But I can't. If you have done anything you truly regret, or if you've lost someone you care about. You'll miss not remembering." Then I was angry for him saying that. I understood why he said it. He saw his sister get killed in front of him. Forgetting that seemed like a blessing indeed. Of course now that I do remember, I wish I had taken his words to heart. All I wanted then was to get my memories back. If I hadn't pursued them like I did I would have saved me and a lot of others so much pain. Of course, I didn't know that then.

I followed Luke back to camp. We were quiet for a while but I had questions to ask. "Demigods don't usually survive long do they?" I asked Luke. He stopped and looked at me. We were halfway back to camp. These woods were thicker than I had thought.

"I'm eighteen right now. For a demigod I'm old." Luke said. In the normal world he would have just finished school. He would be going to college and counting the days till he was 21 so that he could legally drink (of course every eighteen year old college student had their occasional beer whether it was legal or not.) But here he was. Fighting monsters at a summer camp way beyond his expiration date. "Usually demigods make it till sixteen before something kills them. It's only one slip up. You nearly got killed today and as far as you remember it was the first time you ever fought a monster." Luke was right. I got lucky now. Could I be this lucky next time?

"Have there been any to die a peaceful death?" I asked. I wanted to know the odds of me dying by anything but the sword. I expected there was little. And as expected he shook his head.

"Only a few. I couldn't name any that did. Did you know world war II were demigods? We started it. A lot of us died in it and many many more mortals. Even when it comes to us war knows no victors." Luke sounded like a wise man. If I hadn't known I wouldn't have guessed him for a Hephaestus kid.

"Did we also do some good or is it all war and death?" I asked. I must have sounded slightly bratty. I knew nothing of demigods or gods for that matter yet I judged them on the little I did know.

"You know we try. That's all we can do. But trust me. Any demigod does more good in their short life than a mortal does in a century. We don't have much time in this world Angel, I learned that the hard way. But we try to make every breathe count. Mortals take it all for granted." Luke's words touched me. They seemed to come straight from the heart. I wondered what his life had been like. It couldn't have all been clear skies and sunshine, else he wouldn't be like this. I wanted to ask but I figured I had asked him enough for one day.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend." I said. "It's just...I don't understand any of this. I don't even know what it means to be a demigod. I know nothing about who or what I am." I said. I had to sound desperate. Not knowing a thing was so infuriating. There was nothing I could do about it. I couldn't make my memories come back, all I could do was wait. It was one of the first things I found out about myself, I hated waiting.

"I know it's confusing. It's hard for everyone to adapt and with your amnesia it's quite hard to I know." Luke seemed to understand a little too well although I doubted he had amnesia himself. If so he probably would have said by now. "I can tell you a few things about demigods, the facts but what it means to be one is a different thing for everyone I think. Not all of us are born heroes but most try their best. I think that's what makes us different from mortals. We try the hardest we can to make a difference while most of the mortals just live their lives waiting for it to get better." Luke's words were convincing, I figured he had to be right. I didn't answer so I didn't push him to talk more. We walked towards the infirmary with those thoughts going through my head. His philosophy seemed weird to me. Maybe it was because I had no experiences with mortals as far as I could remember. Then again I hadn't really had many with demigods. I think that my subconscious told me that he was wrong. I didn't know if that was because I had experienced good in mortals or if it was because I simply had different views on things. I couldn't really place those kinds of feelings at the time. As we neared the sky blue big house I erased the thoughts out of my head. Better not to think of these things when I could bring no valid arguments to the table. Better not to waste energy as I had so little left. I felt tired and weak after the fight with the manticore. I was in need of sleep. But Luke insisted that I had to go to the infirmary simply as a precaution. I trusted him blindly, he was more experienced in these sort of things. Maybe it was what I needed, hell maybe it would bring me a step closer to getting my memories back.


	3. Wake Up Sleepy Head

Chapter 3: Wake up sleepy head

I can't say I enjoyed being in the infirmary again. At least this time I wasn't going to be spending a lot of time there. With some extra nectar and ambrosia my wounds healed fine, it didn't even leave a mark. Given the scars I had I should have had this stuff way earlier in my life. I didn't really mind the scars as much as you'd expect. Remembering how I got them all would have been nice though. I was sitting on one of the beds. Luke was sitting across from me. He cheered up a little. His words were still engraved in my mind. He had said many things that I didn't agree with. But I had nothing to tell against his valid arguments. The only thing I was certain about was that I was going to find out who I was no matter what he said. I knew there had to be pain in my past, the old wounds of my body told me that much. But pain and loss shapes a person into who he is. I never believed that someone was born good or evil. Everything you experience shapes you into who you become. Whether or not you should be proud of yourself in your dying moment was a different thing all together.

Me and Luke didn't talk. I didn't know what to say and I guessed he didn't either. I looked around the room aimlessly. I saw the person laying in the bed at the far end of the room. She had turned around now and I could see her face unlike when I lay in the infirmary myself. She seemed to be in a peaceful sleep. "Who is she?" I asked Luke. He probably knew. He seemed like someone that knew everything that was going on around camp. Then again maybe I was the only one that didn't.

"Her name is Evie. She's been in a coma for the last month. None of us can figure out why. Not even the Apollo kids know." He said.

"What's so special about the Apollo kids?" I knew that Apollo was god of the sun but I didn't understand why his kids would know why Evie was in a coma. It didn't make any sense to me.

"They're pretty much the doctors of camp. Apollo is god of a lot more things than just the sun mate." I wanted to ask what he was god of but I decided against it. I didn't really care about Apollo or any god really. My mind was focused on one thing only, getting my memories back.

"Could they help me with my memories?" I asked Luke. If they were 'like the doctors' maybe they had some mojo to fix my amnesia.

"Still after your memories huh? Well I can't blame you. Anyway, that's not the Apollo kids. If you want to fix your memories you need Hypnos kids." I didn't get that. This time I wasn't going to stop asking though.

"Why Hypnos kids?" I asked. This was important to me, I had to know everything there was to know. I wondered why Luke hadn't told me before. Maybe he really thought I was better off without my memories. I couldn't agree with him. I felt like no one, nothing seemed worse than that.

"Well Hypnos is the god of sleep and memories. His children can get you into a deep sleep that could fix your memories. Sadly there's only two on record at the moment. One's in New York and won't be returning for a month, and the other is right there." He pointed at Evie. I didn't feel like waiting a month, and it wasn't very likely that I could wake up a coma patient. I was determined to try though. I got up and walked towards Evie. "We tried that." Luke said with a smile on his face. He probably thought I was naive for trying. But he wasn't the one with amnesia. As I neared her I could see her face clearly. She looked about my age, she had blue eyes and wasn't bad looking. As I looked at her it came to me that I hadn't seen any really bad looking kids at camp. Except for some satyrs (half goat half human thingies) and the camp security guard who literally has eyes all over his body. I couldn't remember his name. Anyway I started to wonder if all demigods had something about them. If you look around any random city you see one or two people that literally scare you. At camp there weren't any of those, they looked closer to celebrities than anything else. Of course the gods were meant to be perfect, and we had half of them inside of us. So I guessed that was the most reasonable explanation.

"What happened to her?" I asked. Even with amnesia I knew that you don't just get into a coma. Of course Luke told me the differ.

"She just collapsed. We have no idea why or how. She's mumbled a name once or twice but we don't know anyone named Michael. There hasn't been one here at camp since before Evie came here." Luke said. It didn't make much sense to me. Luckily for once I wasn't the only one. I didn't know why. But for some reason I grabbed her hand. I guess I wanted to know if it was cold like I imagined it would be. What happened though I couldn't have suspected. She opened her eyes. My face shined out rays of surprise just like Luke's. I didn't get why she woke up, come to think of it I didn't get anything that had been happening lately. She looked at me, straight in the eyes. It wasn't a nice look either. It was a look of pure hatred.

"You!" She said. The next thing I know I get slapped in the face. It didn't really hurt, but its quite a shock. You wake someone up from a coma and she slaps you in the face. No thanks or anything. I backed away from her. With that look in her eyes I didn't think she was going to stop at one hit. "I should kill you for all you've done!" I had no idea what she was on about. All I had done? It didn't sound very promising.

"Evie, calm down." Luke said. "He doesn't remember anything about his past. Do you know him?" He asked. He was as clueless as I was.

"Luke, get away from him. He's a murderer!" Now imagine, you remember nothing of your own past. You meet this girl, she slaps you in the face and then calls you a murderer. Can you imagine how freaked out I was?

"So you do know him?" Luke asked. He was looking at me weirdly. Of course this was looking bad for me. He trusted Evie more than me and I couldn't remember anything. I could have been the one who blew up the twin towers for all we knew.

"Not really. Let's just say that I wasn't really sleeping. I was watching him, all he did. All the people he hurt. He's no better than any monster that we killed!" She hated me, I didn't even know why. She knew everything about me, she knew me better than I did. It scared me. Imagine a person knowing everything you ever did and you yourself don't know anything. Its not very nice.

"Look Evie, let's get to Chiron. I think he should meet Angel. And he will probably wants to see you too." Luke said to Evie.

"So he does remember everything! He's lying Luke! How else would he know his name?" I was surprised to find out that Angel was my real name. That's what she said anyway. And it was close to the truth.

"Angel is his real name?" Luke asked. He seemed to find it funny. After all Angel wasn't really a regular name. I only thought of it so that people had something to call me.

"It's close enough to his middle name. His full name is Michael Angelus Colt."

For a girl who had just woken out of a coma Evie was rather fit. She walked ahead of Luke and I as we walked towards the archery range not far from the sword arena. It was where Chiron was supposed to be now. I still wondered if this was the same Chiron who trained Hercules which seemed a bit far fetched but this entire camp seemed far fetched. As we walked I stood next to Luke and decided to ask.

"So this Chiron...is he the same centaur that trained Hercules?" If it was he was ancient. The story of Hercules was extremely old and if I remembered right Chiron wasn't the youngest of horsies even then.

"The one and the same. He has been granted immortality by the gods so that he can train their children as long as it was needed." Luke said. We walked on a bit further. The archery range was on the other side of camp and unlike Evie, Luke and I weren't really speeding. "So Michael is your real name huh?" Luke said.

"That's what Evie says." I hoped she was wrong. If she was right about my name she was probably right about me being a killer and that was something I wished was a lie or at least over exaggerated.

"I'm right trust me." Evie said without looking back. Apparently we weren't worthy of her gaze, or maybe it was just me that wasn't worthy in her opinion. "You shouldn't be talking to him Luke. You wouldn't be the first friend he stabbed in the back." Evie said. What was that supposed to mean? Did she think I'd hurt Luke? Even if I wanted to I probably couldn't. From what I had seen he was a pretty good fighter.

"He had my back against the manticore that killed Emily. I don't know what you've seen but I don't think you've got the right guy." For a second Evie turned around and looked me in the eyes. She seemed to be inspecting me, trying to make sure she was right. And in the end she decided that she was.

"It's him, I'm sure." Luke walked ahead of me now. He tried to be a bit more quiet so I wouldn't hear but I still heard them talk.

"Look Evie if you're sure we'll find out soon enough. But I think we should give him the benefit of the doubt." I hoped Evie would agree with Luke. And more so I hoped that Chiron would. He seemed like a sensible guy...centaur and I hadn't done anything to make people think I wasn't trustworthy. If there was anyone that I needed to be on my side it was him.

"You have no idea what he's done Luke. I know you want me to give him his memories back but I won't. If I have them it means someone passed them from him to me. He's better off not knowing his past. He might even be a better person because of it." I hadn't really thought about the fact that she could give me my memories back. Of course that's why I had made the effort to try and wake her up but when she started calling me a murderer that thought kind of disappeared from my mind. And now it didn't matter anyway. Evie refused to give me my memories, or at least she said so.

"Even if someone 'gave' you his memories they aren't yours he deserves to know who he is." For someone who thought I was better off without my memories he was really trying to convince Evie but she wouldn't give in.

"No. It's something I have to do and if I refuse that's the end of it." I wondered why we were still going to Chiron. She was so sure not even him could change her mind. But we pressed on until we arrived at the archery range. It was pretty simple. Demigods with bows stood at one side and a target stood at the other. Some of the demigods had stray dummies for targets while others had target boards. I figured dummies was more of a challenge. A bow never seemed very appealing to me. I liked to get close and personal rather than shoot someone from afar. Gunpowder was the worst invention ever in my opinion. Back in the day war was about honour and strength. These days everyone could be deadly simply because all they had to do was pull the trigger.

At the far end of the range stood a centaur with long brown hair and a long bushy beard. I figured that it was Chiron. He didn't look as old as I thought he would. I figured immortality also meant that he didn't look any older than he did back in the day. He had a himself and a quiver hung from his shoulder.

"Chiron." Evie yelled as she neared. Chiron raised his arm ordering the archers to hold their arrows. We crossed the archery range safely and we reached Chiron unharmed.

"Ah I see you're awake. I heard something like that from Grace." Chiron said to me. "Angel right?" I just nodded.

"His name isn't Angel Chiron, it's Michael. And he's a killer!" She glared at me before turning back to Chiron. Evie had to bend her neck all the way back in order to look him in the eyes. She wasn't that tall and even I had to look up and I was 6 foot 2.

"That's quite the accusation Evie." Chiron said raising his eyebrow. He looked at me and back at Evie. I wondered if he believed her. "This is a matter best discussed in private Evie. Luke would you be so kind as to escort Michael back to cabin eleven?" Luke just nodded as he signed me to follow. Before I walked after Luke I turned back to Chiron.

"Angel, please. I don't remember the person Evie speaks of and even if she speaks the truth...that's not who I want to be." I said. It was the plea of my defence. Of course Evie was far more believable especially if she could give a detailed description of my past. In a court of law...my case would be very weak.

The walk to the cabins was far shorter than the one from the big house. The cabins were quite close to the archery range. I wondered which cabin was Luke's. I knew he was the son of Hephaestus but that didn't mean I could spot the Hephaestus cabin just like that.

"So which cabin is yours?" I asked Luke. He pointed to a building that resembled a small factory with smoke coming out of it's chimney's. I wondered what the hell they were burning in there.

"Cabin nine, pretty easy to spot." Luke said. "For now you're in cabin eleven because you're unclaimed and all." Luke said.

"Yeah I know. It's one of the only things I do understand about the demigod life." I said. Grace had explained all about the claiming and the cabins. However I truly hated the Hermes cabin. It was too loud and crowded, not my kind of place.

"Well do you know about the ADHD and the dyslexia?" Luke asked me. My face must have shown that I didn't as Luke started to explain almost immediately. "It's traits nearly all demigods share. There are exceptions but most all have ADHD and dyslexia." I wondered if I had been diagnosed with those things. Among mortals they were known as dysfunctions in the brain but apparently it was a way to spot demigods.

"Why?" I asked. If this sort of information was dropped on me I usually wanted to know more. I was curious like that.

"Well first off let me explain that not everyone with these conditions is a demigod or a demigod who doesn't have them isn't weird or anything." That seemed fair enough to me. "Well the ADHD represent our natural battle senses. We can't sit still or concentrate in normal situations. I don't know if you noticed in your fight with the manticore but you can see every single detail." I remembered it from the fight. I could see the muscles of the manticore tense up, was that because I had ADHD? "The dyslexia is because our brains are hard wired for ancient Greek. We can read the ancient language better than English sometimes. Some people have it worse than others though." Luke said. "Some can't make out any letter in the alphabet while others read Shakespeare without a problem." I wondered if I had bad dyslexia. I remembered in the woods I could barely read the words Shadow-edge on the blade of my weapon but it hadn't been all that bad.

"Okay, thanks." I said simply. It was nice knowing a bit more about being a demigod. It made it easier to understand.

"No problem." Luke said. "You should get to your cabin and rest for a bit. It's been quite a day." I nodded and made my way towards the Hermes cabin. "Hey Angel, don't beat yourself up about what Evie said. Chiron isn't quick to judge, and Evie...well she'll come around." Luke didn't seem very convinced about that. I just smiled and nodded as if I believed him. Truth was I didn't. I was new and people trusted her more than me. If Evie told people about my past I would probably be hated all around. The worst part was that I didn't even know if it was true. People could say all they want about me if I knew that it was all lies. But I didn't know, I believed Evie more than anyone. After all I had woken up with a bloody sword and nearly dead myself. It wasn't so hard to think that I killed someone in those woods. Maybe that's what Evie was talking about. Or maybe I had killed more than one person. The thoughts were killing me. As I entered the Hermes cabin I blocked out all the sounds and threw myself on the bed that had been appointed to me. Was I truly I killer? Again the million dollar question popped into my mind, who am I?


	4. Yesterday's Heroes

Chapter 4: Yesterday's hero's

As the days passed I started to develop a hatred towards the Hermes cabin. It wasn't my kind of place. It was noisy, crowded and you had to watch your stuff every second. I pretty much slept with Shadow-edge as people had been trying to steal it 24/7. I figured people who liked hanging out with many people and loved being in a group would enjoy the Hermes cabin but I wasn't that kind of person. I enjoyed being alone at times and thought privacy was quite important. And those two needs were impossible in the Hermes cabin. I slept less than a few hours a night but it didn't seem to bother me much. I functioned with three or four hours asleep as if I had been doing that all my life. Maybe I had, I wasn't the one to know. My hate for the Hermes cabin seemed to worsen every day. Eventually I didn't enter that place till gone three AM and once I was out I didn't go back in until that time. I was obviously one for small crowds. It was weird that I had to get to know myself. It was like every day I learned something new about myself which others knew of themselves simply through experience. I felt like an outsider simply because I didn't have my memories. The worst part of it all was that Evie could give them back but she denied me that. I hoped Luke could talk some sense into her but days past and I heard nothing of Evie, Luke or Chiron. I wondered what Chiron had decided on his judgement. I hadn't been locked in a cage yet so I figured I had been given the benefit of the doubt. Maybe I was being watched without knowing it. There were enough kids in the Hermes cabin, one of them could be watching my every move. Of course I didn't do anything really interesting. After breakfast in the mess hall I would leave to one of three places. The woods, the beach or the sword arena. Lately my will to go to the woods had depleted though. If I encountered another monster in there. The beach was nice and quiet and watching the waves crash against the beach. Finally the sword arena was simply a way to relieve stress. Cutting up some dummy is a great stress reliever. That and I figured it would turn me into a better fighter.

Today none of these places seemed to suffice. All I really wanted was to leave camp but I figured that it wasn't an option. And even if it was I had no where to go. If I had a home, a family somewhere out there I didn't remember it. So until I found out who I was there was no point in leaving. And even if I had somewhere to go I was safer here. Anywhere outside of camp was dangerous for a demigod although I didn't really understand how that worked. Camp was the place to be apparently. It was supposed to be a summer camp but to me it felt like a prison because I had no where else to go. Camp was my only option now.

I walked away from the Hermes cabin annoyed by the constant noise it produced. I didn't chose a specific path, I wasn't really going anywhere. I walked north east of the second omega of cabins when I spotted another cabin. It was simple and looked a bit crooked. It was obviously made by hand unlike the other cabins. It was special, only because it was so plain among all these unique cabins. It had been painted grey and the closer I came the more imperfections I could see. Nails sticking out or boards not as perfect as they should be. There were four names scratched next to the door frame. The top name was Jake Kopaka. It was slightly bigger than the other three names, was this his cabin? The other three names were: Darius Nikolas, Sophie Brighton and Ashlyn West. I wondered if it was some kind of club house rather than an actual cabin. I wondered who the people were who's names had been inscribed into the front wall. Had they made this cabin? Maybe the answers were inside. Cautiously I walked inside. For a second I was afraid lighting would strike me from the heavens for entering a cabin that wasn't mine. The cabin didn't look as protected as the other cabins but still, I had no idea what would happen.

The cabin seemed abandoned. Everything was perfectly clean as if no one had been in there for a very long time. The beds were made, there was no stuff laying around and it was completely quiet. It was pretty much the opposite of the Hermes cabin. I guess I liked it, it was far better than the Hermes cabin. For a second I wondered, was there any harm in me staying here? I mean if it wasn't occupied who would mind? So I chose the one of the beds at the end of the cabin. I didn't see a problem in doing this. What was I doing wrong? I was just getting some peace and quiet and there obviously wasn't anyone staying at this cabin. I wasn't bothering anyone, I wasn't harming anyone, so what was the problem? Convinced I was doing the right thing I dropped myself on the bed and closed my eyes. It was amazing that I heard no noise around me. I couldn't remember what it was like falling asleep without pulling the covers over my head to block out the noise. In the first moment of serenity I had in a while, I dozed off into a deep sleep.

I couldn't remember my dreams of the nights before. If I didn't know that a person dreamed every night I would have denied that I dreamed at all. But that night I remembered. I was in some kind of building. It looked sort of like a hotel, all these rooms with numbers and letters on their doors. I was standing in front of S37, I didn't remember the room. Everything around me was burning. The roof I was under, the floor that I stood on, everything consumed by flames. I entered the room, inside everything was burning too. The roof had collapsed, wooden beams and bricks were everywhere. The wall of the outside of the building had fallen out, the sun was shining, the weather was nice. How could something like this happen on a nice day? The room, well what was left of it, looked like a typical girls bedroom. There were two beds and the room was simple. It had two beds, two wardrobes and a single cupboard. There were two people living that was for sure. There was a door leading what I suspected to be a bathroom. The room did look like a hotel room, but it wasn't. It was more like a dorm. And I was sure that the reason why I dreamed about this, because I was there. I had a burning mark leading from my shoulder blade down my right arm and lower back. I got it here. Was this my room? I didn't know that. I asked my own mind and in a weird way, it seemed to answer. In front of me, between the rumble of the roof, I saw something. Wasn't she there before? Or didn't I see her before? It didn't matter. It was a girl of about age 11. She had long brown hair and a pretty face. Did I know her? Was I here because of her? The room around me disappeared. The girl was still there though. She was standing now. She looked better than before, no burns, no dust and ash over her face. Most importantly, there was life in her eyes now.

"Michael..." She said. She looked sad, as if I had hurt her in some way. Was I the one that did this? Is this what Evie saw? Did I kill her? That's when I heard another voice, again a girl but not the same one.

"How dare you!" She yelled. I was right awake after getting hit in the face with a pillow. It was Grace, I had no idea what she was doing here but obviously she didn't really like me sleeping there. "You're not supposed to sleep in someone's cabin! Especially not his!" I had no clue what she was on about. What did she mean with 'his'?

"I just had to get out of that damn Hermes cabin, and since this cabin was empty I didn't see a problem." Again she hit me with the pillow. Apparently she didn't agree.

"Everyone who is unclaimed wants to be out of the Hermes cabin. That doesn't give anyone the right to use a different cabin. This is the cabin for children of Prometheus, More importantly its Jake's!" Jake, the name on the front. When I read it didn't ring a bell, now that she said it though it seemed like I heard it before. Of course Jake was a regular name but it was more than that. I couldn't place it, but I knew someone named Jake. Was it the same one?

"Who's Jake?" I asked.

"Ugh! Gods, why do I have to explain everything to him. Jake is one of the greatest heroes of our time!" That sounded really weird. One of the greatest heroes of our time? If I did know a Jake I doubted that it was the same one. I would probably remember meeting such a 'celebrity'.

"What did he do that's so special?" I asked. I sat upright now. I still had my clothes on. For some reason sleeping in Pyjamas or something felt weird. I slept in full clothing every night and it felt...normal. Grace sat down next to me ready to explain.

"Well in the second titan war..." I cut her off as I didn't know what the second titan war was. It sounded somewhat like world war II.

"Second titan war?" I asked simply.

"Big war, can't be bothered to explain. Anyway this titan named Hyperion was defeated and locked up in central park. About two years ago he got out." Grace said. "And as you can imagine he wasn't very amused about being locked up. He tried to find the person who locked him up, a guy named Percy Jackson. He **is** the greatest hero of our time." Again she used those same words. "Anyway Hyperion gave up on finding Percy and decided to come after all of us. I won't bore you with the details but many of us...didn't survive. He came very close to destroying eveyone

. Jake and three others defeated him and locked him up in Tartarus. Do you know what that is?"

"Yeah its like hell right?" I was pretty sure of that.

"Yeah sorta. Anyway the four of them were, Jake Kopaka, Darius Nikolas, Sophie Brighton and Ashlyn West. The same people that build this cabin. They were good friends, and only one of them is still alive." She said sadly. I figured she knew them well. She seemed more touched about it than others would, or at least I thought so.

"What happened to them?" I asked. I was curious about these people now. I wanted to know all about them. Once I was interested in something I needed to know everything there was to know.

"Well, Darius, or Dean as we all called him. He died fighting Hyperion. Jake was killed a month ago, and Sophie disappeared not long ago." She said sadly. I didn't think they could be great heroes. Two of them got killed and one disappeared so we could pretty much call her dead. At that moment I believed the standard for hero wasn't that high.

"What about the fourth? Uhm...Ashlyn right?" I asked. I knew I was prying, especially since I knew she knew these people.

"Well at the moment she's in Manhattan. That's where most of us go during the year. We go to school and try to live a normal life. For some of us that's too dangerous though, others simply have no where to go but here. Anyway, she took Jake's death pretty badly. She won't talk to any of her all friends, and after Sophie disappeared she went...depressed I guess." Grace seemed more and more depressed the longer she talked about this. We both sat there for a while, I didn't want to ask any more questions. She seemed so happy going the last time I met her, and now she was so sad. I didn't want to make it worse. After a minute or so I saw a single tear travel across her cheek. She wiped it away and looked at me with slight anger. "Now do you get why you're not supposed to be in here?" I nodded. I sat there for a while no knowing what to say to Grace. She was trying to fight more tears that were coming. I felt like there was something I had to say to her but I wasn't much of a comforter.

"Was he a friend of yours?" Instead of helping her I forced her to bring up more bad memories, very well done...I'm such an idiot sometimes.

"He was everyone's friend pretty much. There were very few that didn't get along with him. He was a great guy." Grace said. "One of the people that didn't like him very much is my ex boyfriend if you care to know. What a bonehead." Grace didn't seem very fond of this ex. I was actually surprised that she had an ex. She was fourteen now and she already had an ex boyfriend? Early starter apparently.

"How did that happen?" I asked. I was actually quite interested in this Jake guy. I didn't really know why. Maybe it was because when I heard that name my memory seemed to be triggered in some kind of way. Maybe if she told me more about this guy I would start remembering more.

"Well he was a son of Ares. He was a nice guy if you got to know him but he could be...very aggressive." Given he was the son of the god of war that wasn't very surprising. These days I wonder if George W. Bush was a son of Ares. Physically he didn't look like one but he was awfully fond of starting wars. "The reason he didn't like Jake all too much was because he beat him in a fight. Jake was one hell of a fighter and being the son of Ares he couldn't handle defeat very well. He lightened up after Jake saved my life in the woods. I guess he cared about me if he cared about anything." I wondered why she spoke of this nameless son of Ares in the passed tense. Was he dead too? I decided not to ask. It was better to leave some of her painful memories alone. I wanted to know more about Jake though. None of these things had triggered anything but maybe if I went deeper. "Look, I bet you have many more questions about Jake Kopaka but please don't ask me to bring up those old memories. Jake died not long ago and bringing up these memories now...it's not right." I had to respect Grace's wish. My questions would have to wait. I nodded and got up. Grace did the same. I had found a place for peace and quiet but it wasn't a place I could be. I walked back to the cabins with Grace. We were both quiet, something that wasn't very usual for Grace. Of course being quiet was quite regular for me.

"So which one is the Iris cabin?" I asked trying to get Grace to speak again. Being quiet didn't suit her. And she had been so quiet that I ended up being the one breaking the silence, it was odd really.

"Well can't you guess?" Grace said with a smile on her face. Smiling suited her better than crying. Maybe that was the case with everyone though. "Iris is the goddess of colour and rainbows. You find it." She said. I knew it had to be in the outer omega, the inner were the twelve Olympians and Iris was a minor goddess not one of the twelve. It was an easy cabin to spot. The cabin's design was simple but it was the paint job that made it stand out. It was a mix of bright and happy colours. Exactly what you'd expect. "See, asking was not necessary." Grace said smiling. I nodded as I looked up into the sky. The sun had just passed it's highest point meaning it was about 1 PM. Nearly lunch time. I hadn't been asleep for long. I wondered about the dream I had in the Prometheus cabin. Who was that girl? I didn't remember her but obviously she was important. Why couldn't I remember? It was something that I hadn't really thought about. Why did I have amnesia? I was all cut up but I didn't have any neurological damage. No head wounds or anything. What had caused me to have amnesia? The list of things I couldn't explain just kept on growing. "Angel, are you coming? We're having lunch soon." Grace said. I turned towards her and nodded.

"Yeah, let's go." We walked towards the mess hall together. I wasn't really hungry. Just thinking about that dream ruined my appetite. The thing was...it wasn't the worst one I would have.


	5. Mixed up Memories

Chapter 5: Mixed up memories

More dreams came to me at night. All involved violence and death, a lot involved fire. What was I some kind of pyromaniac? I saw a lot of fires in my dreams. I saw a church burning. I wondered if these were just random dreams or actual memories. Had I witnessed a church being burned? The dreams made me realize one thing though. I wasn't going to get my memories back the normal way. If there was a way that I was going to get my memories back easy I would have known something by now. Anything about my past but instead it was all a mystery. It was as if it was still there but just locked away. How could that have happened? Wondering about it wasn't going to help obviously but what else could I do? Evie had to help me, I had to get her to give me my memories back. I made my way to the outer omega of cabins and looked around. Finding the Hypnos cabin was pretty much impossible. All the cabins were different and had something to do with its patron god but I had no clue how a cabin would look like sleep. Eventually though, I saw Evie herself coming out of the Hephaestus cabin. Maybe she had been talking to Luke or any other Hephaestus kids. I didn't even know if there were any others, Luke had said that many of his siblings had died or disappeared. Were there any left? Evie spotted me too. Immediately she looked like she wanted to hurt me really bad. I walked up to her, I needed to get my memories back and she would give them back!

"I'm not giving you you're memories." She said. I wondered how she guessed, well...maybe it was kind of predictable.

"They're not yours to give, their mine! I don't even want to know how they ended up in your head but I want them back." I sounded determined, maybe obsessive. I don't think you hear the difference in your own voice.

"But its me who has to put them back in you and I won't. With the things you've done I think we're all better of with you not knowing." I couldn't believe this girl. She wouldn't give me what was mine in the first place? I felt myself filling with anger. I wanted to get seriously berserk on her but I controlled my rage.

"You can't hold my own past from me! You can't!" I guess she could see I was getting angry. She didn't flinch though, apparently she had been through worse than some guy screaming at her. Well she was a demigod and after fighting the manticore I didn't believe I would be scared of a regular bloke any time soon. My guess was, she had seen a lot more than one manticore.

"I damn well..." She stopped. Her face was twitching, she seemed to be in excruciating pain. Her face was turning pale. She put her hands on her temples, people often did that with extreme headaches. I had no idea what was wrong with her, was she having a migraine attack or something? Eventually she collapsed, she was screaming in pain. Now a simple bloke like me, doesn't really have a clue what to do when something like that happens. I had some medical knowledge planted in my head. But they were mostly on the lethal side of things. The location of main arteries, what to do if one got cut, but migraine's. That was something else. That was neurological, the art of the brain. I knew every single way to penetrate the skull and hit the brain but that was it. When I first woke up and knew these things I figured one of my parents had to be a doctor or something. But Evie telling me I was a killer made me wonder if I learned these things...for other reasons.

"Aaaaaahhhhhhh" Still she screamed, I couldn't imagine what kind of pain she felt. I was crouching down next to her asking what what wrong, trying to help her but she pushed me away. I knew she hated me for whatever I had done in my past. And the more she showed that she hated me, the more I wondered what my crimes were. I stood there without purpose, without knowing how to help her. That moment I realized my hate for being helpless, or in this case being unable to help someone in pain. It was something I dreaded all my life, but only in a moment like this I could remember it.

Then the cries stopped. Evie seemed fine now. She was as pale as a dead man but the pain seemed to have disappeared. She got back up and looked me straight in the eyes with intense fury. "You burned down a church!" She said something about visions, I guess that's what had just happened. I didn't think they would hurt her so much. It made sense in a way though. After all she was housing two sets of memories, could a demigod's brain handle that? Apparently it could, but it cost Evie much. What she said had worried me though. The night before I had dreamt about a burning church and here she was telling me I burned one down. Was this coincidence? Was she really speaking the truth? "You burned down a church, for your own sick amusement. How could you do something like that? I know you're lying about your amnesia so tell me! How could you do that?" She seemed to be in tears, well nearly anyway. She seemed hopeless. I wondered why, most people were very simple when they stood eye to eye with a murder. They were relentless to them, they weren't looking at a person. They were looking at an animal. But Evie seemed doubtful about that. Didn't she believe in the black and white theory on good and evil? Or had she seen more than just bad things? Had I in some sort of way shown her a good side in my past. I wondered for a moment if I had a reason for all these murders but I could answer that easily. There was never a reason to kill someone, never a way to make it less monstrous and primal than it was. But there was a way to make it understandable. Not forgiveable, but understandable. Had I done that? Did something happen to me that made her understand? I didn't have the answer to the question, nor to any other question that burned in my mind. She did though, yet she refused to give them to me. I understood why, but that didn't mean I agreed.

"Does it really hurt so much? Getting my memories I mean?" I asked. Of course I knew the answer. I had just seen her pain with my own two eyes.

"Yes! You cannot imagine it, then again, maybe you're pain is worse. After all, you have the scars to prove that you know pain." She said. I wondered if she knew how I got my scars. She knew some that's for sure. I thought about the burning mark I had. I wondered if that happened in this fire.

"Did I get burned? I have a burning mark on my right shoulder did I get it here?" Of course in the dream it didn't look anything like a church, but maybe the dream was a load of bollocks. I couldn't be sure until I got my memories back.

"No, that was a different fire, I guess that's where your obsession with fire began I think." She sounded calm, nice in a way. Maybe even...sympathetic. Did she know about the girl in my dreams? Did she watch her die like I did? Was it my fault? "Yeah Michael, you're a real pyromaniac." There was the hatred again. Not a single drop of sympathy. No sympathy for the devil I suppose. "Get out of here Michael, I don't want to see you at all. I'm not giving you your memories back, and I can't look at you without hating you. And holding grudges like that, it isn't good for me." She said. I decided to do as she wished. I wanted my memories back as I think you can understand. But I understood how she must have felt. So I was going to leave her alone, and maybe eventually she would see that whoever I was. I'm not that person anymore. I couldn't imagine myself killing, I didn't believe I could deliberately end someone's life. So maybe if I proved that to her she wouldn't see a threat in me getting my memories back. Maybe she would change her mind.

I wondered camp for a while before setting myself down on the beach. I sat there looking at the waves crash in the sand for about an hour before a girl of about my age joined me. She sat next to me in the sand. She had long black hair and a pretty face, her eyes were...special. She had a weird look in her eyes. A sort of darkness that I couldn't place. I had seen the same in my own eyes yet different. Hers seemed stronger yet there was also something warm and kind about her. She was hard to figure out. We sat there in silence for a while, eventually we both looked up and caught each others eyes. She smiled and spoke for the first time.

"Hi, are you all right? You seem bothered?" She asked. She seemed nice enough. I decided to tell her some things, it would probably be better if I left out the Evie believes me to be a murderer part.

"Yeah I'm all right. I have amnesia and sometimes...it just really bugs me you know." I said. Of course if she hadn't done anything stupid she probably never had amnesia. So she probably didn't know.

"Well I can't say I do, but I get why it bugs you. I would go crazy without my memories." She said. "What's your name anyway?" She asked me. I thought it was a stupid question, I just told her I had amnesia.

"Well my real name's supposed to be Michael but most people call me Angel. Nice to meet you...?" I left on obvious blank, a rude way of asking her name I suppose but I didn't care.

"I'm Jeni Carter, daughter of Hades." I couldn't figure out if she said that with pride or shame. For me it would be shame. I wouldn't be able to bear being the kid of the god that lorded over people's dead loved ones. Then again if what Evie said was true it would fit me just fine.

"So how does it fare being the daughter of the god of the underworld?" I didn't really know what else to ask. It was a simple question I guess.

"I don't know. Some powers are cool I guess. I can't say I use them a lot. I just try to live normally you know. I had a job until I came back for Christmas. I gave it up cause I missed being around here. But I'm still finishing the last few years of school next year." She said rapidly. I didn't really know what to say. I wasn't one for words.

"Cool." I said simply. Lack of words was very common for me. I wondered if it made me look shy. I didn't know for sure. Maybe it did maybe it didn't, I didn't care either way.

"You're not a talker are you?" She said chuckling a bit.

"Not really. I guess I have nothing to talk about." I said. It was true. What could I tell about myself? I knew as much about me as she did and I met her a minute ago.

"Of course you do. I mean you might not remember your past but you're still the same person." If she knew what I was being accused off she would know that was a very bad choice of words.

"I guess. But I can't remember that person. I don't know anything that I've been through. I have these scars that I can't place, I have a name that means nothing to me. I barely feel like I am a real person." I had never lied about having amnesia. But Jeni was the first one I told about how it felt. I don't know why I told her specifically. Maybe because she was the only one that seemed interested.

"He's in there somewhere." She said smiling. For a daughter of Hades she was quite upbeat. I always imagined children of the darker gods to be darker but Jeni Carter proved that I was wrong. She was nice and a good listener. I liked her.

"I guess so." I was being quiet as per usual. It might not have been very nice for the person who I was talking to but I didn't have anything interesting to say in my opinion. "I should get going." I said.

"Oh okay, I'll see you around okay?" She said smiling.

"Yeah sure." I started walking towards the cabins. I waved my hands as a sort of goodbye gesture and said: "Later." She said something, I didn't understand it. I was tired and felt horrible. I needed to get some sleep. Sadly I could rarely find any in the Hermes cabin. I couldn't believe how anyone did. For a second I considered some of them taking some serious sleeping pills but I would have noticed something like that. I guessed some people just slept easier then others. It was something only Hypnos could decide on. Apparently he didn't like me very much. It didn't matter. I didn't need to gods to like me. The only bad thing was that when the gods don't like you, things mess up. After all every god controls their own little part. Mess with one and something will always go wrong in your life. I wondered what I had done to piss off Hypnos. But he really had it in for me. After all he was also the god of memories, the sleep was a small torture compared to the amnesia. Hypnos had me good, I guess that's where my grudge for the gods began. And I guess that's the first of many enemies I would make on Olympus. And one alone was already giving me hell. If I knew then what hell I was going to go through. I probably would have run from destiny as far as I could. Sadly it would catch up. For some reason destiny always did.


	6. Harmony

Chapter 6: Harmony

Boredom seemed to be my worst enemy at camp half-blood. Some campers said camp was never boring but I disagreed. I usually had nothing to do. Maybe I had that feeling because I didn't remember what it was like to lead a normal life. Camp was my normal life, and normal life was boring. Whether it involved swords or not. I had created a routine for myself and I was sick of it. But I couldn't break free, if there was a way I didn't know how to. I figured that normal kids had the same problem. Wake up, go to school, do homework and maybe have some fun and then go to sleep. Such a meaningless existence. Even though I didn't go to school or had homework it felt the same way, or at least I imagined it did.

The woods were calm that morning. I heard nothing at first. A few animals here and there. The noise I had never heard before was...music. It was a classical instrument, that was certain. It sounded like a violin in a way yet the sound was heavier, as if this was a way oversized violin. The sound of music was a beautiful one indeed. I hadn't heard much music at camp. I knew people often played instruments in the amphitheatre and around the camp-fire in the evenings. Both were places I avoided. I regretted that after hearing the soft and sweet tune coming from...somewhere. I tried to follow the sound but it was tough to make out where it was coming from. For a second I wondered if should follow it. I had heard about monsters trying to lure you in, maybe this was one of them. For some reason I didn't think so. Then again maybe that was what the monster wanted me to think...it was awfully confusing. Either way I had to follow the sound, the soft serene musical melody had made me curious of the musician. Eventually I found the source. A young woman playing the cello, or as referred to earlier, oversized violin. The woman played beautifully, she obviously had been playing for many years. The woman was blond yet her hair seemed to be shaded with many other colours as if she had coloured her hair many times. She was in her early twenties or that was my guess anyway. We were outside the borders of camp, the 'magical' protection of camp holding everything none-demigod out of camp. I didn't understand all about it I just knew that it was powered by the golden fleece. Some kind of magical ram hide which give nature a boost like taking fifty coffees after each other. Anyway since we were our of the border she could be...you know, normal. Or mortal as most demigods called the normal people. At first I thought it was diminishing. They had done great things, look at Ben and Jerry's, all human but their ice cream is divine! The sad thing was that spending so much time around the demigods, after awhile. I started calling them mortals too.

The girl was not a mortal though. How did I know? Well I spotted some of her other stuff and this included a bow with bronze arrows. As far as I knew mortals didn't carry those around with them. As she stopped playing for a while I stepped out of the bushes and decided to make a chat. Of course since she hadn't noticed me she jumped up and squeaked as soon as she saw me.  
>" Gods, please don't startle me like that. If you were a monster I would be dead now." She said.<p>

"Luckily I'm just another demi. Sorry about scaring you by the way." I said. I didn't realize that she would be so jumpy. She probably had worse experiences in the woods than I did. After all she was older than any demigod I had ever met. Most demigods didn't live long you see. We live dangerous lives. Some get killed by monsters, others get killed in the mortal world, some got killed by other demigods or even gods. The demigod life was not one of fun and games. When you weren't fighting for your life you were training in case you had to. Some would probably love the way that sounds but...once it becomes reality. Not so fun any more.

"My name is Galia. What's yours friend?" She asked. Friend? So soon? Apparently I seemed like a nice guy, or maybe Galia was just a really nice person and called everyone friend. I expected the second option more than the first.

"I'm Angel, well that's what everyone calls me anyway." I said.

"Why? Are you such a guardian angel?" She asked chuckling a bit. Like everyone she found my temporary name funny. I knew my name already but I didn't want to use it. Not until I knew who that person was. Right now I didn't have the slightest idea what Michael was like. I guess now, I wished I never found out.

"Nah. I've got amnesia, but people are so attached to names that they needed to call me something." I said a bit annoyed.

"Well its a nice name. It suits you." She said. I didn't believe her. It did prove my theory about her being nice though. "So how is it? Not remembering your past?"

"It's a burden really. The past is like...who you are. How can you know who you are if you can't remember anything about your life?" I asked her. She was older, probably a lot wiser than me, I hoped she had some answers.

"The past is a burden too. Living without regrets might not be something to hate." She said. I guess she had a point but not one I could agree on.

"Yet forgetting about the things you have done and then not regretting them, is that truly I good thing?" I asked her.

"I suppose not. You're wrong about you're past shaping you though. The past influences you but the only thing that defines you as a person are your choices in the present. You could have been a horrible person before your amnesia but if you choose to change that now I wouldn't call you a bad person." She said. I wondered if she knew what Evie thought to know about me. I wasn't sure. What she said sounded awfully close to the supposed truth.

"I guess so." I said. I leaned against a tree. I didn't really know what to think. How could I say that I wouldn't judge me on my past if I didn't even know my past. If I remembered that I did kill someone could I really forgive myself? I doubted it. "I'm going to leave you be Galia, thanks for the chat." I said.

"No problem Angel, any time." She smiled and me. I gave her a weak smile and walked off back towards camp.

It was lunch time, I should have been in the mess hall having lunch with the others but I was in the sword arena. I held Shadow-edge in my right hand and cut up random dummies. There didn't seem to be a point. Attacking a standing target who couldn't fight back wasn't a challenge. Any idiot could do that. I wished there was some kind of challenge but it was either a dummy or risking your life by fighting a monster. Of course I risked my life every time I went into the woods but I wasn't going there so that I could fight a monster. I wasn't a coward but looking for a fight was foolish. It was how the powerful got killed. If you look for fights all the time eventually you're going to come across someone or something that outclasses you and defeats you. The first monster I encountered in those woods nearly did me in and from what I knew hell hounds weren't all that. I figured the dummies were the best training I would get for now.

"Angel." I heard a voice behind me. I recognized it by the British accent. Luke Ford. He entered the arena with a bronze sword and missing his pinky from his bronze hand. I wondered what else he had hidden in there. And more importantly why he had a bronze hand in the first place. "I figured you'd be here." Luke said.

"How's that?" I asked as I continued slashing up a dummy.

"You seem to be at the places where you're least likely to run into anyone. And well most of us know that the sword arena is deserted during lunch time." I wondered if Luke had been keeping tabs on me. If he knew that I tried to be alone as much as I could he must have known what I had been doing the last few days.

"So why are you here?" If he knew I was here it meant that he came here because of that fact. Meaning he was here for me. Which was probably not a good thing.

"Had a good breakfast." He said joking a bit. I didn't laugh. I didn't know why I was being so hard on Luke, he had tried to help me. "Look, we fought that manticore in the woods right? You were good, so I was wondering if you were up for some sparring." Truth was that it sounded quite interesting testing my skill against Luke should be fun. I didn't think I'd have a chance though. He had been at camp for years so he must have had some good training.

"Okay." I said as I turned towards him. He had his sword and I had mine. My sword was about half a foot longer than his. I had more reach but that was about the only advantage that I had. Luke and I both stood ready. And when he nodded his head I attacked. I didn't hold back, I figured Luke would beat me easy so I might as well give it all I had. I struck from the top bringing my sword downwards. Luke blocked my attacked easy but I quickly brought back my sword and attacked his shins. He still caught my blade with his but it didn't seem so easy this time. I pulled my sword over my head and struck again, this time towards Luke's side. Luke blocked the attack with his bronze hand leaving me open for an attack. Now Luke attacked slashing down just like I had before. I doubted that I would be quick enough but I tried to raise my sword in defence. I held my arm on the flat side of the blade to make sure the blade wouldn't bounce into my face once Luke's attack hit. If I had been half a second later Luke's blade would have killed me, but I was just on time. So this was how Luke fought, defend until he found an opening. It was a pretty good way of fighting and it was one I could adapt to.

I had to get Luke on the offensive side, if I pulled him out of his comfort zone I could beat him. Or at least I figured I could. I kicked towards his shins. I hoped it would bring him off balance or something like this but he didn't even flinch, he was obviously used to worse. Instead he attacked me now. If he didn't attack he'd have to either take more of those kicks or take a step back, he didn't seem to be willing to do either. He attacked me from different sides but each time I was quick enough to block. That's until he caught my blade with his and twisted his arm disarming me. I had been doing pretty well but like that I lost. The tip his blade was right in front of my throat, I had to give in.

"You got me." I said. I had enjoyed sparring with Luke. It was better training than slashing the dummy. Luke lowered his sword and laughed a bit.

"Not bad at all. The way you fight...it reminds me of someone. You're so changeable, once you notice the way someone's fight you adapt. It's a very good skill to have." I wondered what Luke meant exactly. The way I fought reminded him of someone? Was that good or bad. Luke had moved to a bench on the side sitting down. I joined him and sat on the other side of the bench. "So I'm wondering Angel. When you fight, do you remember anything? I mean a giant part of fighting is instinct but no demigod can do this on just instinct." Luke said.

"Not a thing. It's just like I know what to do. It's not something I have to think about or that I know. It just pops into my head when the moment arrives. I always figured it were those natural fighting sense you were talking about." Luke made me wonder where I had learned how to fight. If what he said was true then I had to have learned from someone.

"Well, not worth worrying about now." Luke said. "I don't know about you Angel but I'm knackered." Luke yawned and stretched his body.

"Knackered?" Now that was something I never heard before. I figured it meant tired...but it sounded weird.

"What too British for you?" Luke said. I nearly laughed but controlled myself.

"Well you're in America, tired is tired, not knackered." I couldn't pronounce it the way Luke did. It sounded even weirder when I said it.

"Bloody hell ol'chap. Let me speak my language." Luke said going all out British. I could always hear his British accent but hearing him with his full accent cracked me up.

"I'll leave you alone." I said still laughing a bit.

"You better." Luke said. "Anyway I'm getting kinda **tired**, think I'll head back to the cabin." Luke said putting the emphasis on tired. "I'll see you around mate." He waved his hand as he walked off. I didn't stay long before walking away myself. Camp was living up again unlike during any of the meal times. When the campers ate camp itself was almost deserted. My favourite times of the day. It was rare for someone to truly prefer being alone. Most people just said that they did to cover up that they felt alone. But I truly felt better alone in the dark. I guess that made me a weird kid, not really something I cared about.

I was near the Hermes cabin. Only about ten feet away from it. The campers had come flowing back in giant waves. Ten minutes ago I was alone now I could hear the noise of the Hermes cabin over any other sound. I tried to block out all sounds, but one broke through. The sound of someone calling me. Not by the name I had taken at camp but by my supposed real name.

"MICHAEL!" It was Evie. She screamed in a voice with a mix of anger and extreme pain. A mix that happened a lot. Pain and anger were close like love and hate. Those who angered you hurt you. Those you say you hate often are those closest to you. It was weird but it was how it worked. Many people said that in order to truly hate someone you have to love them. It was a statement I never agreed with. I hated many people over the years and loved very few. But when I look back now, I see the wisdom in those words. Those that I said I hated, they had taken something from me and I would do everything to make them pay. But that wasn't hate. I experienced hate when I fought with my friends. So in the end when you look back and see your entire life the person that angered you most is the one that you love most. Funny how that works. Evie had no love for me, nor did she hate me. I didn't really understand what she thought of me. All she ever called me was a murderer but she must have seen more than that. After all the only thing I knew about Evie was that she knew me better than anyone. She had lived my past, understood why I did what I did. And I doubted that after knowing what I had been through she always believed I was just a dirty killer. No, I was a murderer but not because I was mentally fucked up or because I was mad. It was something that I had been turned into. And my entire life it was something that I tried to change. Evie looked horrible. She was pale, had dark rings underneath her eyes and her eyes had red lines in them. As if she hadn't slept for days. I knew it had to do with my memories. It was something that we could have expected. The human/demigod brain couldn't handle having to separate lines of memories. I suspected Evie to start having trouble knowing which memories were hers and which were mine. If she continued keeping both memories they would eventually flow together or the migraine's would start to seriously effect her brain until something would be seriously damaged. "The visions. They're killing me!" She screamed in pain grabbing her head. "What did you do to me!" She screamed at me. It was a logical reaction. She blamed me for pain I didn't cause, not directly anyway. I wasn't the one that placed the memories inside her head but they were my memories. In her position, I would blame me too. Of course at the time that wasn't wisdom I possessed. I stood there helpless not knowing how to help her.

"Maybe you should lie down." I said. Not that it would help. If she lay down the pain wouldn't leave she just wouldn't have to worry about standing any more. It was a thing she was hardly doing now. She was wobbling and held my shoulder in order not to fall.

"No I'm good." Evie said now. She opened her eyes and her hand left my shoulders. For a second she seemed fine until another shock of pain entered her head. Her eyes pinched together, the sound of her scream came across loudly and her knee's couldn't hold her weight any more. I caught her in time. She didn't want my help but she was in too much pain to decline.

"Look, you have to get rid of those memories. You obviously can't handle having two sets of memories." The question was of course if her bringing me into that coma sleep thing and returning me my memories would erase them from her mind at least the feeling that they were here memories. What was left of them inside her brain was something a scholar would have to tackle sometime.

"Okay then, I guess I don't have much choice." Evie said when she regained her senses a bit. She stood on her own again and started leading the way. "I need a few things, I'll get Luke to fetch them." She said without doubt. "So...you ready to remember who you are?"


	7. The Memory Remains

Chapter 7: The memory remains

The bed in the Hypnos cabin was the most comfortable bed I had ever slept in. It's pillow was soft and cool and the mattress eased my every muscle. The covers were warm and soft. It was perfect. I had slept in the Hermes cabin which had hard mattresses and pillows that were so unsteady that it barely made a difference if I had a pillow or not. This was the best bed ever, that was the end of it. I doubted no bed could ever be that comfy. I started to envy Evie because she got to sleep in this every single night. Evie said she had to get me to sleep. The bed I was in made me want to sleep for ever. It wasn't just the bed that gave me that feeling. It was something I felt immediately after entering the cabin. Upon entering my eyelids grew heavy and my current energy went from all right to nothing. The Hypnos cabin did something to me that I could only explain as magic. Some kind of spell by the god of dreams and memories. Maybe by his children although that wasn't something I could be sure of. Evie sat in a chair next to the bed I lay in.

"So how does this work?" I asked Evie. I didn't know if I was just meant to go to sleep or if she was supposed to do something. I had absolutely no clue what I signed up for.

"I mumble some words, you fall asleep and wake up with your memories. Nothing hard about it." She didn't sound snappy but it was far from a kind tone. She obviously still disliked me. For a second I believed her headache had faded but when I looked at her closely I could see her cringe every once in a while.

"So what are you waiting for?" If my memories really were as bad as she said I wanted to get this over with. It seemed better to face my past head on now and then decide who I was. After all I wasn't bound to be the same person I was in my past. Although I figured that Evie ever seeing me in a different light.

"Luke's coming over here. Doing this takes a lot out of me and I want someone to keep an eye on you." Evie said. I could have seen that coming. Of course she wouldn't trust me on my own even if I was knocked out. Maybe she would be proven right. That was probably my worst fear. What if she was right about everything? Could I still live on like I had now? Could I ever feel normal? I doubted that. Truth was that I knew Evie was right I just didn't want to admit it. After all I came to camp with a bloodied sword and was all cut up. That could have been a monster or someone that really didn't like me. And that person had never been found. The only thing that made me feel better was that there hadn't been a body. Now whoever I had fought was just gone which made it possible that he survived. It was a question I wouldn't have to ask once this was over. I would know everything about my past. And no matter how horrible the past was it was what I needed to move on.

Luke entered the cabin casually. He was the neutral party in the conflict between Evie and me. Of course the actual conflict was pretty one sided. I never really did anything to Evie, not that I could remember anyway. For a second I wondered if I had seen Evie before. Was that the real reason she hated me so much? It was a theory but a pretty bad one. It would explain why she was unwilling to give me my memories back butt other than that it was just speculation.

"Hey Evie, hey Angel." He said. "You ready mate?" He asked me. I turned my head to him and nodded. "Then let's do this." Evie and Luke nodded at each other. Evie raised her hand and started speaking, but not in English. It was Ancient Greek, no doubt about it. I had never heard anyone speak the language but I recognized it immediately. I could even understand parts of it. God, Dreams, Memories. Was this a prayer to Hypnos? I didn't know for sure. As Evie spoke my eyelids became heavier than lead. I started losing my grip on consciousness. I didn't know what Evie was doing but it was working. Evie's voice was all I heard for awhile until even that faded away. It was time.

Nine years ago (give or take):

I was only six years old. What a kid I was. I played the guitar, made friends in school, and was as playful as a puppy. I wasn't a bad kid in anyway. The only thing that was weird about me was that I had ADHD, dyslexia and and severe sleeping disorder. The doctors just labelled it insomnia (very rare for a kid my age) but my mum always said it was something else. She never got to explain what it was. But eventually she had to stop telling me that it wasn't insomnia. I knew it wasn't. The night seemed to be the only time I was really awake. I never felt more alive than when the world's light was down and the stars were high in the air. That wasn't insomnia, at least not any kind of insomnia anyone had ever heard of. Other parents would force their kid to go to sleep but my mum didn't care. As if she knew that I belonged in the night. Sometimes I stared into the night sky from the balcony of my mother's LA apartment and wondered about my dad. If he was looking at the same stars I was, somewhere anyway. She told me he walked out on us when she just found out she was pregnant. She had a hard time dealing with the mess he left, she had a shit job, a shit a apartment and an ADHD kid that couldn't sleep a wink at night. It wasn't easy for her I understood that. But what she did that day, I couldn't understand. I came home from school, it had been a pretty normal day. I was happy though, I always was back then. I opened the door and walked straight into the living room. Usually my mum was sitting in the sofa watching TV. Her taste in television shows was horrible. I really didn't like the stuff she watched so I rarely watched TV with my full focus. I was always doing multiple things at the same time. My mom said it was because of my ADHD. I figured she was right. It meant that I was super hyper and all that so doing one thing obviously wasn't enough to keep me busy. I always respected her for her wisdom. She didn't have a good paying job or anything special but she was smart. She worked night jobs which left me alone all night but made sure that she could function instead of me keeping her awake all night and then her having to go to work in the morning. This way she could sleep while I was at school, it was easier for her, so I didn't mind. The thing was though that today she wasn't on the sofa. This had happened before so I wasn't really worried.

"Mum? I'm home! Where are you?" I asked. If she wasn't on the sofa her voice would cry out to me from the kitchen or bathroom but that didn't happen this time. I walked into the kitchen, there wasn't a living soul there. My mom never spend much time in the kitchen, most of our dinners were microwave. She always said she was a horrible cook, I didn't agree with it. Her self made meals were the best ones I had. Sometimes I thought she was too lazy or just didn't want to. Maybe she didn't have the time. I never knew. I walked into her bedroom it was empty of people and furniture. A bed and a closet, that was all my mum said she needed. I had a nice room but her's wasn't all that much. She spend pretty much all her time trying to make my life better. She always said she couldn't give me what I deserved and that I deserved a better mother but I disagreed. There was no way she could have made me happier. Finally there was the bathroom. I usually didn't enter the bathroom without knocking, my mum had taught me manners very well but I didn't knock this time. I can't remember if I did because I knew something was up or if I just forgot. If I had knocked though I would have had to wait for ever. My mum was there in the bathtub. She was pale, her eyes had a lifeless stare, her wrists were bleeding. The white tiles of the bathtub had a red liquid crawling down from them. She didn't move, she didn't breath. "Mum?"

I cried so much after I found out. One of the neighbours had heard me scream and came upstairs. It was a nice man who I had seen a few times before. He put me down in the living room after calling an ambulance and tried to talk to me but all I could do was weep. When the cops and ambulance arrived the cops took me downstairs and the ambulance crew went into the bathroom to collect my mother's lifeless body. I hardly remember that day. It all seemed so unreal and in my memory it never became real. Whenever I thought back of it all I could see was my mother's dead body. I figured that nothing after that topped over that image. I always figured I was in shock which is why I didn't remember everything. It seemed like the most logical explanation. I was put in the car and driven to the nearest police station. I sat there for days. I didn't know why I had to be there in the first place. I had gotten a blanket and something to drink upon arrival but in the hours I waited very few cops approached me. Maybe this wasn't something rare to the hardened LAPD. Eventually there was one cop who showed some kind of interest. He crouched down to my height and I got a good look at him He was in his late twenties but looked younger. He had short trimmed hair and brown eyes. His face was sharp but kind looking. He smiled, he seemed like a nice guy.

"Hey kid. I'm Officer Graham but you can call me Matt." I just nodded I didn't really feel like talking to anyone. I should have been nicer to the guy, he had been the only one to even turn his head. Of course I couldn't really be blamed, I had just seen the corpse of my mum. I don't think anyone would be in the mood to talk after seeing that. "Let's take a walk." He said. He went back to his own height and signalled me to follow him. I threw away the blanket and followed him. The station wasn't very big and was located on the North-East side of Los Angeles. It was surrounded by a small park with green grass fields, beautiful tree's with green leaves and a small pond. It was spring, the world was coming alive and my mum was dead. It made no sense at all. How could this be happening?

Graham lit a cigarette. Not very child friendly but we all have our bad habits. Chances were that we actually came out here to smoke and decided to take me with him. I had been sitting motionless for hours and some fresh air might do me good, that was logic. Of course nothing would really do me good. There is no cure against grief. At the time I was between believing this was a dream and realizing my mother died. More importantly I realized that she killed herself. She chose to stop living rather than spend her days with me. Knowing that probably hurt the most.

"You never told me your name." Graham said. My mother would tell me to politely introduce my self and shake the nice police man's hand but instead I just stared at the pond for a minute before finally answering.

"Michael." I said. I didn't even look at the man. Just stared at the unmoving water. Graham didn't know what to say and I wasn't in the mood to speak. I didn't blame him for being speechless. What do you say to a kid in a situation like this? Nothing sounds right or good. How could he tell me that I would be fine when I had just been turned into an orphan.

"Look kid." He said before taking another pull from his cigarette. "I know it hurts. And I wish I could tell you that it gets better but it might never go away. But life isn't over. Your life is only just beginning." It wasn't a great speech, it was pretty simple but I guess it inspiring. His words escaped my memories over the years. But at the time it meant a lot. Graham dropped the cigarette on the ground and trampled it. "Come on let's go back inside." Again I followed him this time in the opposite direction.

Back inside I heard Matt Graham talk to one of his superiors. I couldn't see them, just hear. They were in the room across from the chair I was sitting in. The room had it's blinds shut ever since I arrived, I didn't even know that that was someone's office. I heard Matt first, he was reporting the: Colt case.

"I can't call it anything but suicide. Every sign points towards it. Ms. Colt went into the bath, slit her wrist and was found four hours later by her six year old son. Confirmed suicide." Graham said. Confirmed suicide, it sounded so business like. No emotion from the man at all. This was his job, suicide wasn't a rare in a city like Los Angeles.

"Poor kid." The other man said. His voice was heavy and strong. I wondered about the person that owned the voice but I couldn't get any kind of picture in my head. My imagination was completely shut down. "Have you spoken to the boy?"

"Yeah I have. He's in bad shape as to be expected." Graham said. "So what's going to happen to him chief?"

"He's going to have to go to an orphanage. There's no father mentioned on the birth certificate and his mother was the only family he had." The chief said. I knew I didn't have any other family. My grandparents died years ago and my mum was an only child so no uncles or aunts for me.

"But which one? No orphanage would take him. His mom doesn't have anything but debts. Credit cards, rent of her two apartments and some other stuff." Two apartments? I never heard of that. It made me wonder if there were more things I didn't know about my mother. "We might also have to bring in the IRS. Her income and expenses don't check out."

"None of that concerns the boy." The chief said. "Despite all of that there is one orphanage in town that will take him."

"No chief, we can't send him there. That place is filled with delinquents we can't send him there." Graham protested. What were they talking about? Nothing of their conversation made sense to me.

"Have you got any better ideas Graham?" The chief said. His voice sounded angry now. He didn't like Graham going against him. It was quiet for a while before Matt finally spoke.

"No sir."

Two days later I went to the orphanage where I spend most of my childhood at for the first time. Happy days orphanage. It was located in the slums of LA. Outside the walls of the orphanage were thefts, gang violence and drug addicts. Of course as a six year old who believed he lived in a world of flowers and rainbows didn't know what all these things were. My rainbow flower world was soon to be changed into a stew of violence and hatred. I don't think my mum could have expected that when she did herself in. I was sitting in the hallway of the orphanage. The walls were grey and there was a grumpy man sitting behind a desk. He was tall, wide and had a small beard. He was nearly bald and he looked mean and annoyed. I was pretty sure that he wasn't here because he wanted to work with kids. His name tag said Roger Murdock. I got a weird feeling from him for some reason. He seemed...inhuman. I had seem some big guys in my life but this was a freaking bear. I felt scared sitting there alone with this guy. He didn't say anything, he just looked at me with a stare of intense hatred. The thing that scared me most about him were his eyes. They seemed to change, sometimes it looked as if he didn't have two eyes. It was very, very disturbing. Especially for a six year old who just lost his mother. That's about when an older woman came in. She had short grey hair and wore a suit. Her name tag said Mrs. Riley. She was in her sixties and looked like a mean old lady. She had pointy glasses and an evil grin. If I was asked to explain evil, I would use her as my example.

"Ah Mr. Colt I presume?" She said in an arrogant tone. She felt better than anyone. To her the kids in the orphanage were nothing more than animals. She was there to keep them in line.

"Yes." I said in a shaky voice. I was in a room with two people that intensely scared me. "Mr. Murdock. This is Michael Colt, he's a special one." She said. I didn't like the way she said that.

"What? Did his mummy and daddy get whacked?" Murdock said in a grumpy voice.

"No his mum actually did herself in." She giggled. I knew then that these two were not mentally 100%. "Anyway." She coughed in order to seem 'professional'. "You'll be in the East dorm, I'll take you there." She said. She ordered me to follow her and I did, like the dog I was in her eyes. She took me to room E23 It was the third room on the second floor. It was like a motel layout. "Here it is." She said.

"Thank you." I said quietly. I didn't really want to say anything to anyone. I just wanted to sit alone in my little heap of misery. She pointed me to go into the room and then left. Inside there were two beds, a small bathroom with a shower and a toilet and two closets for clothing and whatever else you had. Most orphans didn't have anything to fill the closet with. Just like what happened to me most of their parents assets got sold to pay off the house and debts their parents had. I was left with nothing but some clothing and my guitar. There was one other person in the room. He was at least three years older than me. He was a lot taller and stronger built. He was called Peter. None of us knew each others family names. Our parents were dead and any family we did have didn't want us so why use our family names? Peter immediately became my family though. He was like my older brother. He looked out for me, made sure I knew the right people, most of all he made sure I could defend myself. He had done martial arts before he came to the orphanage and he taught me everything he knew. I was a quick student, and I was a lot faster and more agile than he was. It wasn't long before I surpassed him.

I remember the first time I used the skills taught to me for the first time. First I should explain some things about the orphanage. There were four dorms, North, East, South and West. South and West were girl dorms, North and East boy dorms. East dorm and South dorm didn't really like each other. Easy to say that they were at constant war. Both had a leader. The leader of East dorm was John, he was an all right guy. Peter and I were all right with him anyway. He was a good fighter and was a guy you trusted to have you're back when you needed it. In South dorm it was Quinn. At the time I couldn't really judge him. We all hated him simply because he was the leader of North dorm so only bad things were said about him but he seemed like an all right guy. As an observer I didn't see that big a difference between Quinn and John. Of course when I first met him I completely agreed with everything they said about him. The guy Peter and I had most trouble with, was a friend of Quinn's. His name was William. Apparently his parents died in a car crash a few years ago. He had been in the orphanage as long as Peter could remember and he came to the orphanage when he was younger than I was. William was a year older than Peter (at the time it seemed much older than the ten years he was.) Williams buddies had been bothering us for weeks Peter always took care of them with ease. They were all kids just like us and Peter was a tough one. A few punches to the jaw and his enemies went down. But that day it was William himself that came for me and Peter. He said some things, Peter and I both wanted to knock him out.

"Look at you two idiots." William said. He loved taunting but most people knew that he was all talk. "Pete stop protecting the little guy. I bet he would go down within a minute if you weren't there to protect him." This guy was pissing me off. Pete did protect me from most of the older kids but I could take care of myself.

"Pete, mind me taking him?" I asked. I was about ready to kill this guy. He had no respect for anyone and I was going to show him why he needed to have some respect for those who could kick shit out of him.

"You sure Mike?" I nodded. I had to prove myself in East and North dorm, and well this was one way of doing it. "Go ahead then." He said.

"Oh the new kid is going to fight? Finally the little shit has the balls to step up and be a man. You're going to regret this!" He was arrogant, then again so was I. I had no idea what I was up against yet I was sure that he was no match for me.

"We'll see." I said. Both of us got ready to fight. I stood sort of like a boxer, straight on my opponent, hands beneath my chin and standing light footed for quick movement. He on the other hand stood sideways. That was his first mistake. Everyone thought that it made you look like some kind of martial artist but in truth it left your entire back open for an attack. So that's what I did. I kicked him into his back and already he seemed to be going down. He got back up though, this time standing straight towards me. He tried to punch me but he seemed to be moving slower than a slug. Everything around me was crystal clear. Every little movement, every muscle in Williams body that tensed up, I noticed it all. I dodged his punch easily, after that I attacked relentlessly. I couldn't show any weakness towards any other people. I had to show right there that no one could mess with this new kid. I kept punching William, until he crumbled down on the floor. Peter told me never to hit someone who hit the deck. That was only a sign of weakness. If you can't take a guy one on one and have to hit someone when they're on the ground, no one would respect you. And even if that wasn't the case, there was no need to injure William any more. He was knocked out cold. I stood there with a smile on my face. After that no one messed with me or Peter without thinking twice.

The years went by slowly. I got sucked into the violent life in the orphanage easily. Beat up this guy, knock out that guy. It became the life I lived and I enjoyed it. The people from East dorm thought I was great, the North dorm hated my guts. I was fine with that. Me and Peter hung out just the two of us for two years until another new kid arrived. He was seven years old, I was eight and Peter was ten. Joey was a little hyper kid, no one believed that I was the one with ADHD as I was rather calm. We took Joey in cause no one else would. We all knew what it was like being the new kid but no one wanted to be the first to accept the next new kid. I however thought we should and in the end it wasn't such a bad idea. Joey was a little genius. He knew more than half the East dorm put together. Most of it were random facts but some stuff that he knew was very useful. The tennis ball grenade was definitely one of them. Joey never really got into the fighting, Peter and I usually covered him. One time I got called into Mrs. Riley's office for doing so. The thing was Mrs. Riley wasn't there. Only Murdock. He was looking at me with the same hateful stare as he always did. Only this time he actually spoke to me.

"Mmmm I love demigod meat. I love this place. For some reason demigods just keep getting thrown in here. You're the third I picked up in four years. Now...come here!" Yes...that definitely freaked me out. He grabbed my throat with hands that seemed to be made out of steel. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't think. I felt life slipping away. I tried to grab something, some kind of weapon. Until I got my hands on a bronze mail opener on the desk. It wasn't the greatest weapon but it would have to do. I looked Murdock right in the face. I always thought that he only had one eye, now I was sure. One eye in the middle of his forehead. Like a Cyclops. It didn't matter though, if he had one eye or two, I was still going to stab him in the neck. Will all the strength I had left in my body I stuck the mail opener into his neck. His eye opened wide in pain until eventually he disintegrated into dust. I fell to my knees desperately gasping for air. I tried to think back what he had called me. Demigod? What the hell was that I wondered. For a moment I considered waiting for Mrs. Riley to ask for an explanation but what if she was a one-eyed freak like Murdock? I thought it was better to get out of there and never mention this to anyone. No one would like the crazy kid saying that one of the staff was a one eyed monster. So I kept my mouth shut. No one seemed to find it weird Murdock disappeared, it was as if he never existed. No one talked about him, and I wasn't stupid enough to bring him up either. Eventually I guess I kind of forgot about him. Or I repressed the memory of ever meeting him. Either didn't bother me.

I remember meeting her very well. She was the victim of being the new kid, like I was, like Joey was. And with the girls it was much the same. The first lunch she had she was denied a seat everywhere. Peter, Joey and I sat alone, there were three seats left. She sat down without saying anything and started eating her lunch.

"Hey, we're sittin here newbie, go to your little make-up buddies." Peter said. He didn't really like the girls from west nor south dorm. A year before he had asked a girl out and she laughed at him for even asking. Ever since he stayed away from every single girl at the orphanage.

"I'd rather sit here thank you. They talk too much." She said self confident looking at Peter with strong and determined eyes. She was a tough one, or so it seemed.

"Get off our fucking table!" Peter yelled at her. For a second her confidence seemed to break. She was probably considering getting up but I didn't feel like she had to. She had the guts to come sit with three guys who were sitting alone on a six person table and go against us when we told her to go. I liked her.

"Pete, calm down. Let her sit. I'm Michael, the little guy is Joey and the big guy's Peter." I said to her with a confident smile on my face. I was smarter than Peter and stronger than Joey. I had pretty much became the leader of our little group. And this girl had caught my interest. I didn't want to seem like a bastard because Peter was acting like one.

"Mike, she's not even in east!" Peter tried.

"Just cause you got your ass rejected doesn't mean Joey and I hate all the girls Pete." I said. Joey cracked up. He was laughing so hard he nearly ended up putting his head straight into his own lunch.

"Nice to meet you Michael, Joey. And you Peter." She said with the same confidence. After that she turned towards me smiled and mouthed the words thank you. It seemed that she wasn't as tough as she seemed and was happy I helped her out. "I'm Eve" She said.

Nice to meet you Eve." I said. That day made our little group of four complete.

It wasn't long before me and Eve weren't just friends any more. We were ten years old, it was nothing more than puppy love but it made both of us feel like we could still belong out there in the normal world. All four of us had become used to the savage ways of the orphanage and I for one barely remembered what it was like being a normal kid. I guess this was a way of imagining that we were. The rest went pretty much the same. Peter and I still got into fights and John and Quinn still hated each others guts. A thing I remember well was the first person that actually got to me and Peter. He was small, weak and not particularly smart. Everyone called him little Ed. He was from north obviously. And he was sure that he could take us down a notch. He came up to us really casual. When he was near he grabbed something out of his jumper pocket and stabbed it into Peter's shoulder. Now this wasn't the first time stuff like this happened, but no one had ever gotten to us. I wanted to go after Ed, I would've killed him right there and then but Peter needed my help. He was bleeding badly and he seemed like he was unconscious. One of the staff had called an ambulance. Our medical adviser Lou Seyja made sure Peter would survive that long. He kept pressure on the wound to make sure it didn't bleed too badly. The screw driver that was used was laying next to Lou. I picked it up and knew what I was going to do with it. Little Ed was going to get the exact same treatment back.

That night while everyone was asleep I sneaked into north dorm unseen. I had the screw driver in my pocket. I didn't exactly know what I was going to do, I figured I'd improvise like I always did. I knew what room Ed was in. N19, I found it with ease. The door was locked but the lock was easily broken. If Joey was here he could pick the lock but I needed to do this alone. I kicked in the door, the lock broke without trouble. Ed was asleep, there was no one else in the room. I pulled him out of bed and started beating him. This guy had stabbed my brother, he was going to pay. He wasn't ready for the attack, he was asleep after all but after two or three punches he came to his senses. He punched me right back and I stepped back. For a small guy he had quite a punch. After that he threw me on the ground and pulled out a Swedish army knife.

"Come on tough guy. I'll skin you like a fucking pig." He said. I didn't know what to do. This guy was crazy enough to kill me I knew that for sure. I took the screw driver out of my pocket and stabbed it in his direction. I didn't aim for anything, I just needed him away from me. I closed my eyes, afraid that I had missed and that Ed was going to kill me. But Ed was silent, I heard nothing. I opened my eyes, the screw driver was in Ed's neck. The exact same spot where I had stabbed Murdock, only Ed didn't disintegrate. He wasn't some one eyed freak, he was totally human. I could hear him choke on his own blood. He was dying, even an ambulance couldn't save him. I had killed him. I panicked, I didn't know what to do. I couldn't tell this to anyone, I would get send to prison and never see Peter, Joey or Eve again. So I did what I had to. I erased my traces. I put Ed's hand on the screwdriver and made it look like I was never there. I hoped people would think he stabbed himself. It wasn't unlikely and the staff wouldn't investigate anyway. We were orphans, who cared if one of us killed himself? After that I left. I hadn't been seen, not until I was outside. Lou Seyja was out on patrol. He saw me coming out of the north dorm.

"Michael? What are you doing in north dorm this late at night?" He said.

"Uhm...the toilet in East is broken. I really needed to go." I said. It was lucky that it was dark. He didn't see the blood on my clothes.

"Oh, I'll tell Mrs. Riley to send someone to look into it. Now go to bed." He said. I did what he said. I looked back once and it seemed as if Lou was smiling. A scary sadistic smile covered his lips. As if he knew what I had done, and he was proud of it.

Like I hoped, Ed's death was seen as a suicide. For a while I was sickened by the fact that I killed someone and more so that I used the same way my mum died to cover it up. Eve had asked me if I knew anything, I had lied straight to her face. When Peter came back he openly admitted that he was happy that Ed did himself in. I never told him that I killed Ed. If Lou did know, we would be the only ones. Well Ed of course be he was dead. The weeks went on again, until my eleventh birthday nothing major happened in my life. It was the same old song and dance really. I remember my eleventh birthday well though. The morning I got twenty dollars like everyone did on his or her birthday. Peter and Joey had asked Lou if he could buy me a knife for them, he had done it willingly. Lou seemed to be the only one that liked any of us, mostly he enjoyed watching us kill each other it seemed. None of us four minded Lou though. And Peter liked him ever since Lou had made sure Peter lived long enough to reach the hospital. The thing that I really remember however, was the pendant I got from Eve. Just before dinner we were sitting alone in my room. I was playing the guitar for her until she interrupted me.

"Hey do you remember when we went to town two weeks ago and I disappeared into that jewellery store?" She asked me.

"Yeah you were looking for a bracelet or something. But they didn't have any right?" I said while playing some random chords on the guitar.

"Right. But I didn't go in for a bracelet. I uhm...got you this. She took out a silver pendant from her pocket. It was in the shape of an angel. "I know that your middle name is Angelus which means angel. I saw this and I thought why not. You don't have to wear it if you don't like it." She said. I smiled at her. I didn't really expect her to get me something like that. I knew I was going to have to come up with something really special for her when she turned eleven.

"I love it." I said. I took it and put it on. I didn't get why in the movies girls always needed help with that and then there was that awkward moment, it was so easy to do yourself. Girls...weird creatures indeed.

We were together for another year and a few months. She didn't get to turn twelve before she died. There was a fire in South dorm, she was still inside. I tried finding her outside but she wasn't there. Out of desperation to find her, I ran right into the burning building. Flames were everywhere and I could barely name my way to room S37. I stepped over burning rumble trying not to set myself on fire. Everything was collapsing around me, I was pretty sure I wasn't going to make it out alive. But I had to try and get Eve, I prayed to god that she was still alive. When I reached the room pretty much the entire way back had collapsed, there was no way back. I kept my shirt over my mouth trying not to breathe in the smoke. Part of the ceiling in room S37 had collapsed. I didn't see Eve anywhere. I knew where she was, the ceiling had collapsed on top of her. I tried to move the rumble, I grabbed burning pieces of woods with my bare hands just to find her. It hurt more than anything I had ever felt but I had to try. Eventually I could see her. There were still shouldering beams and ash on top of her but I could see her. She was burned and had a lifeless stare.

"Eve?" I tried. No answer. She was long gone. The rumble coming down on her probably killed her instantly, I hoped so anyway. I couldn't believe she was gone. I had to get her out of there or die trying. As I was trying to get the rumble of the building was cracking. What was left of the ceiling was collapsing now. A burning wooden beam hit me and landed on my back. I could feel my skin burning. The burning went over my right shoulder to my arm. I could barely breathe, I felt myself slipping away. Eventually I lost consciousness.

I woke up in the hospital, my back and right arm were covered in bandages. Apparently I had been burned really badly. They had found me in the rumble after the fire was put out. They told me how lucky I was to be alive, of course they didn't care about the person that didn't make it out. I was fine, just a few burns. She was dead. When Joey and Peter came to visit I turned my back to them. I didn't want to talk to anyone.

"They say the fire was accidentally set by a lit cigarette. Even if you wanted to find out who it was pretty much everyone above twelve smokes. And it was an accident." Peter said. They both knew what was going on in my mind. I wanted vengeance. Someone had caused Eve's death, I was going to find him and kill him.

"It wasn't an accident Pete, I'm sure of it." I said.

"Don't be stupid man. Eve wouldn't want you to go out for revenge. It was an accident, things like that happen." Peter tried.

"Besides we all know fire protection sucks at the orphanage. One tiny spark could have set it a light." Joey said. They tried to make me listen to reason. But I wouldn't, I was going to get revenge.

"A cigarette? From outside? The building isn't that bad Joey we all know that. Someone set this fire, and whoever did is going pay." They tried to convince me not to but my mind wouldn't change. Once I set my mind on something nothing in the world could stop me. Joey and Peter knew that better than anyone. They weren't going to help me on this one though, I knew that. I didn't mind it, this was something I had to do alone.

When I came back to the orphanage I had to go see Lou everyday to change my bandages and to give me painkillers and such. In those times I guess I started talking to him a little bit too much, a big mistake. It turned out Lou was one sadistic puppy. He knew everything about poisons, acids and other ways to cause people some serious pain. He knew some horrible ways of torturing someone. Of course as pissed as I was, I wanted to hear everyone of them. I knew that someone from north dorm had set the fire. If it was anyone from east I would know. Luckily there were people in north dorm that knew pretty much everything that went on. And everything Lou told me became quite useful when I needed them to talk.

"You know about water torture?" Lou asked me while changing my bandages.

"What putting their head in a tub of water?" I asked. I saw that in a James Bond movie once, it seemed horrible enough.

"That's an easy one. There's one which was never proved to be used but what they did was let a drop of water fall on someone's forehead for a long amount of time. Apparently the subject goes nuts, loses his mind completely. Another one is holding a wet towel in front of someone's mouth. This makes them feel as if they are drowning even though in the end its not lethal at all. It just drives them nuts you see, and that's what you need in torture."

"Why do you tell me these things Lou?" I asked him as I got up. My arm felt a lot better. It would leave a permanent mark on my back and arm but I didn't care. I had loads of scars, this one was definitely the biggest though.

"Because I need someone to tell this useless information that I hold. And I know you're not stupid enough to use these things." He said. How wrong he was.

The kid I needed was a guy named Seth. He was older than me and one of Quinn's best friends. If anyone knew who started the fire other than Quinn it would be Seth. I followed him around for a while, trying to figure out the best way to get him where I wanted him. Where did I want him? South dorms basement. There was a trapdoor in the rumble that led to a small storage basement. How did I find this place? Lou showed me, one time he asked me to help to move some old furniture in there. I did, now it came in very handy. There was all kinds of stuff down there. All could be used to cause some proper damage if Seth didn't want to talk. I hoped he would just talk, even though he probably suspected that I wouldn't do anything to him. But I would, at the time I had the mind set to kill him, causing him extreme pain was no problem.

Two days later he was there, strapped to a chair. I knocked him out with one clean punch, dragged him in the basement and tied him up. When he woke up I immediately asked him the only thing I wanted to know.

"Hey Seth, who started the fire in south dorm?" I was holding a hammer in my right hand. I was going to be straight to the point and if he didn't tell me what I wanted to know, I was going to cause him serious and permanent injury.

"Michael? What the fuck! Do you know who the fuck you're messing with?" Seth said. I didn't care who I was messing with. For all I cared I was messing with God himself if he could tell me who started the fire he would one way or another.

"Again Seth. Who started the fire?" I asked, this was his last chance.

"I don't fucking know!" He said. I brought down the hammer as fast and with as much force as I could down on his little finger on his right hand. He couldn't move his arm anywhere, he was completely tied up. His finger gave a loud crack, it was completely crushed. He screamed, he didn't think I would do anything like this.

"Who set the fire Seth?" I asked again. "You're finger is crushed, you'll never use it again, now tell me!"

"I don't fucking know!" Another finger got crushed, and another, until every finger on his right hand was crushed. He didn't talk. After the first day of torture he hadn't told me a thing. I used more gruesome methods each time. I held an iron rod over fire and put it on his skin burning him badly. I left him there alone for hours, I let him starve. I used acids to burn his arm and feet and he wouldn't talk. The third day I used the towel thing Lou had told me. He looked like he was suffocating though he could still breathe. He kicked and tried to scream. Tears were running over his cheeks until finally he broke. I got the towel of his mouth and asked once again.

"Who started the fire Seth?" I asked. He looked exhausted, hungry and ready to die but I wouldn't let him.

"Quinn and William. They wanted to send a message to you Michael. They locked her door from the outside to make sure she couldn't get out. It was on the third floor, if she jumped out the window she would die too. There was no one they wouldn't be able to get her." He said.

"Why didn't you tell me before?" I asked.

"Quinn will kill me!" He said desperately.

"He would, but you believed I wouldn't? Well you were right. I'm not going to kill you. But I'm going to let you rot down here. As you know no one will hear you scream. You've tried that. You'll starve down here Seth. If your wounds won't kill you. Later Seth." I walked out, at the end of the stairs I flipped off the light switch leaving him in total darkness like I had done all this time. I heard him scream but I didn't care. I opened the trap door and closed it behind me. I figured it would be a while before they found him. He would live for another two maybe three days in extreme pain before he would die. If he had died I probably would have felt remorse but at the time I felt none what so ever. He was found the day after by a maintenance guy who needed a hammer. Seth came out mumbling random things and not looking anyone in the eye. He was send to a mental asylum. When I came to camp he was still there, he would probably never come out.

I knew who killed Eve. Now it was their turn to pay for what they did. I realized that what I had done to Seth was wrong, and what I was going to do to them would be even worse but I had to do it. I couldn't let them go. Especially after I found out that they killed Eve on purpose. They made sure she died. They wanted her dead because of me. I saw Williams plan. He wanted to weaken me with her death and then take me out to get back in good graces with Quinn. For that, they were both going to die. I stalked them like I stalked Seth. I followed them through alley's and past abandoned building until they reached their destination. I followed them in there making sure they wouldn't notice me. I seemed to have a talent for sticking to the shadows and remaining unseen. I felt pretty good doing it too. I saw them sitting there. Drinking beer, smoking cigarettes while cracking some jokes. I figured they were laughing about their great victory. How William had bested me by lighting Eve on fire. It wasn't true, they were actually laughing about this old guy in a wheelchair they pushed over. They were real sadistic bastards. But my imagination told me they were disrespecting Eve even in death, and that made me even more willing to send them straight to hell.

"Quinn, William." I said as I came out of the shadows. I sounded cold, I was cold. I was ready to kill these guys and for an eleven year old that was quite horrible.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Quinn asked. "Did you follow us? What are you some kind of stalker?" Quinn said. William had a smirk on his face. It would be gone soon enough. Quinn walked up to me and pushed me. Big mistake. I hit him in the face. He went straight down to the

ground. They were so weak. They acted like they ruled the world but they couldn't do anything. This time I forgot about the rule of not hitting a man on the deck. Quinn was on the ground but I kept on hitting. I beat him up until he stopped begging me to stop. Until he stopped moving his arms trying to get me off. I didn't stop beating him until his heart stopped beating. William was just standing there. Afraid of what I was going to do to him. Quinn was dead, he was next. I ran towards him, he tried to get away but I was much faster. I knocked him down. Hit him until he lost consciousness and then tied him down with some rope that was laying around. After that I found a can of benzine in the warehouse. Very convenient in my opinion. I covered William in benzine and waited for him to wake up. I got bored waiting very soon. I picked up one of the pack of cigarettes laying around took one out and put it in my mouth. I lit it was a black and gold lighter which I figured belonged to Quinn. I had smoked before, a few pulls anyway. As Peter had said pretty much everyone at the orphanage smoked. I got pulled into that quickly too. As my cigarette burned William woke up.

"Michael, please don't kill me." He cried. Only now he noticed the liquid that covered his body. "Michael, what is this?" He asked desperately.

"Benzine." I took one final pull of the cigarette and as I blew out I flicked the cigarette against William. It caught the benzine and William went up in flames. I walked away listening to him scream. I didn't feel remorse for that until much much later. For years I made myself believe that justice had been done.

No one talked about Quinn and William disappearing. Most people suspected it was me but no one ever said anything about it. Maybe they were scared. I didn't care either way. Peter and Joey knew it was me but among the three of us not much had changed. All of us missed Eve. It always felt as if there was something missing and we all knew that it was her. I had always been the one closest to her but we all cared about her. We all had our parts in the group. Joey was the brain, Pete the muscle, I was the leader and she was the one that kept us all going. She was very caring and sweet. The world seemed a colder place without her. To me she was also a sort of break. She reminded me how I didn't have to be violent, how there was a life after this war zone but now I had forgotten all about that. Everyone who looked at us wrong got a week at the infirmary. I was ruthless towards anyone that took a stand. Back in the old days I let people off with a black eye but now no one got into a fight with me without breaking a limb. Lou and I still spend time together even after my wounds fully healed. He continued teaching me about horrible ways to cause pain and I remembered all of them. Unlike before I wasn't sure if I was ever going to use them but I knew that I would if the opportunity presented itself. Over time I grew cold, even towards my friends. I had always been tougher around Peter and Joey than I had been around Eve but my soft side seemed completely gone now. All people saw now was the violent side of me. About a year I lived like that. Pete, Joey and I still hung out but our relationship had changed a lot. I had changed after her death and they never accepted the new me like they accepted the old one. It would take the death of another friend for me to understand that.

When the cops surrounded the Happy Days orphanage I was as surprised as anyone. Of course there were a lot of things going on in the orphanage that weren't legal but a raid was something we couldn't have foreseen. The cops entered, got us all in front of the ruins of the South dorm building (Mrs. Riley never got anyone to take care of the ruins) and we had to wait. The entire staff got arrested and we were left for dead.

"Where are we supposed to go man?" John asked one of the cops. He had grown a lot in the last 6 years. Taller, stronger and much more of a leader. He was seventeen now, nearly out of this place but he would never get to leave with dignity. Instead he was kicked out of the place that had been his home for ten years.

"I don't care." He said. John didn't really like the answer. He hit the cop right in the face. When John did something, East dorm followed. We all started attacking the cops. Pete, Joey and I among them. They weren't prepared for a bunch of (very violent) kids attacking them and didn't have any riot equipment on them. Not many ever had an actually fist fight riot with the cops. Especially not many twelve year old kids. Pete, Joey and I took down one cop with the three of us but these guys were better than we thought. I saw John knocking out quite a few but he was a lot stronger than us. We all fought, none of us cared if we got arrested. We had all been through so much shit, how bad could prison be? What we didn't expect was that one cornered cop would draw a gun, and shoot. Everyone got down as quick as they could and when the echo of the shot faded we all started running like madmen. Some got arrested, John was one of them. He wasn't the kind of guy to run but he couldn't stand against the cops on his own. Peter and I ran into an alley. We were both looking around hoping to see Joey but we caught no sight of him.

"Have you seen Joey?" I asked Peter. He shook his head. I hoped he had just ran into another alleyway, he was fine. But we both saw the body on the pavement near the gate of the orphanage. There had been one casualty because of the shot, and we both knew it was Joey. I wanted to go their and kill these cops. No one hurt my friends cop or no! But I was stopped. Peter pulled me away from the buildings we had grown up in.

"Michael think about this. They'll arrest you and no one is paying bail for us." I wondered when Peter got smart, but this was a wise thing of him. If I got arrested I didn't know what would happen to me. I didn't want to know. So we walked away, we left our friend dead on the pavement.

Everyone went their separate ways. Some went to the cops to ask where they were to go. Others ended up in other orphanages or in foster care. No one had it easy adapting. Those that went back into that system found that the orphanage we lived in was the worst there was. Our violent ways of thinking didn't fit in any other orphanage. No one's surprised to hear that about 80% of the kids from the orphanage ended up joining the army. Only 4% finished school. We weren't the pride of society that was obvious. Peter and I ended up living with six others from East dorm. I was the youngest and there was only one other that wasn't older than Peter who was fourteen now. The guy who was in charge was named Tim. He was sixteen and was a real criminal. We lived of , (me being able to play the guitar helped a great deal with that) stealing and some other nasty activities. We lived in the abandoned warehouse where I killed William and Quinn. I led them there. We had a place to live, it was good enough. It wasn't just a roof over our head though. It had guess, electricity and hot water. We never got bills which meant we were using these facilities for free. That meant someone could come and have a check one day. It was a risk but it seemed like our best option. And as it turned out we got by for quite a while. I lived there with the exact same people for two years. Until Tim came up with a brilliant idea, it seemed brilliant anyway.

"It's a four man job." He said. "We need two people taking care of the cashier, one to get the money the other to keep the guy under control. Then we need someone on the door and someone taking care of any costumers around. The shop closes at 1 AM so we'll hit it at 12." Tim said. He had a real criminal mind. That guy knew how to open locks, how to boost a car and planned this sort of jobs like a professional. Of course our earnings were smaller then one of an actual professional but we took what we could get. "We've got to guns thanks to Pete and Michael." Pete and I ran into some idiots carrying arms and got into a little brawl with them. Once they were down and out we figured that two pieces would do us some good. "So the guy taking care of the cashier and the guy taking care of the costumers will be carrying. We go in, get the money and get the fuck out. Who's in?" Tim was in obviously. Then there was a guy named Mark. A good friend of Tim's. Peter volunteered which meant I did. So we were the four. I was the guy that was taking care of any costumers which meant I was getting a gun. It was a simple 9mm which held nine bullets. Nothing to get excited about. Peter was the one getting the money. Tim would watch the door and Mark would hold the cashier at gun point. It was a simple plan but it was stable. There were no camera's so we didn't really have to worry about anyone but the witnesses. All of us had our faces covered and everything. It seemed like a water proof plan.

We came out of an alleyway, went round the conner and entered the small convenience store we were hitting. Mark immediately raised the gun at the cashier who put his hands in the air in response. Tim and I rounded up the four costumers in the store and put them in the corner. There was a man in his mid twenties with a little girl (the only one I felt bad for) and two teenage guys who didn't seem like much. I held them at gun point and Tim took his position at the door. "Be calm and you'll be all right." I said to the hostages. I looked calm and hardened but my heart was pounding. If we got caught we would go to prison for armed robbery, there was some serious time for armed robbery. I'd be in juvy but I wondered if Tim would be charged as an adult. It wasn't going to be easy if we got caught but if we got this we would be set for a while. A place like this would probably earn us a few thousand dollars. That was worth the risk.

"Hurry the fuck up dude!" Mark said to Pete. He was grabbing the money from the cash register and put it in a backpack we had. It was a lot of money he was grabbing. Finally he zipped up the bag, turned around and threw it towards Tim. He caught it and put it on his back.

"Let's get out of here." Tim said and Pete started moving. It was specifically said that Mark and I were not to turn away from the people we were keeping at gun point. We would walk back towards the door and turn once we were safe. I took a few steps back, Mark turned around. Tim was still at the door, Pete was half way to the door and I was still in the corner with the customers. The cashier got something from underneath the counter and when I saw it I was shocked. The cashier had pulled out a shotgun. He pumped it, and fired. Mark was shot in the back at point blank range. The bullets came out of him and blood flew everywhere. Mark flew forward with incredible speed. The power of the shot gun was monstrous. I lost focus now. The hostages ran towards the door and the cashier let them. A fifth person ran with them. Tim ran out of the store with the bag of money, he had left us for dead. The cashier pumped again, and this time he aimed for Peter. He tried to get away but he wasn't faster than the bullets. Peter was hit and fell on the ground, he was dead, just like Mark. Now it was just me and the cashier. The cashier dropped the gun, walked to where Mark stood before getting blown away and picked up his 9mm.

"I'm going to kill you!" He screamed at me with a middle eastern accent. I hadn't really taken a good look at him but he was definitely middle eastern. He started to walk towards me, I was hiding behind one of the stacks. I was still staring at Peter's body. He was the last of my friends, and this guy killed him. I wasn't going to let him come to me. I turned away from the stack, aimed and fired. I kept pulling the trigger. By me second shot the cashier replied with a shot from his gun and I felt a horrible pain in my left shoulder. I remained on my feet, the cashier didn't after my third shot. He was on the floor screaming. I walked over, my shoulder was bleeding horribly.

"Fuck you!" I screamed as I aimed the gun at his head. He was on the ground and I was standing over him. I grabbed his head and with the bottom part of the gun I hit him. I did it again, and again, and again. I can't remember how many times I did it. When I stopped he was still breathing. His head was covered in blood and there was fear in his eyes. I aimed the gun at his head and pulled the trigger. A bullet went right between his eyes. The entire store was a bloody mess. I dropped the gun on the cashier's lifeless body and walked to Peter's corpse. I felt the pain in my arm now. The adrenaline had kept me going but now I felt the pain of being shot. The wound was double sided, the bullet had gone straight through which was quite lucky. When I arrived at his corpse I fell to my knees. There was little left of him. The shot gun at this range had messed his body up. "Pete...I'm so sorry." He was gone, the last of my true friends just died. Tears ran over my cheeks. My mind told me I had to go. This would have attracted many eyes and ears so the cops would probably be on their way. But my heart couldn't go on. I had lost everyone, but I couldn't stop. My mind beat my heart. I got up, got a few bandages from one of the stacks, grabbed the gun and walked out. There would be time to mourn later. I ran for a while before I found a few racks of clothing. I got jeans and a jumper and ran for it. It wasn't smart to steal even more but I had to change clothes. In an alley I changed my bloodied clothes and threw them in a trash can. I bandaged up my wound and started moving again. I could hear the sirens. The cops probably arrived at the scene by now. I had to get away from them, as far away as I could. I ran until I couldn't any more. I collapsed to my knees and cried. The image of Peter's body wouldn't leave my mind. How could this be? It had to be a horrible nightmare, it had to! I cried for hours hoping I would wake up. Until eventually the tears stopped coming. I stopped crying, and when the sadness faded, the anger took it's place. Tim abandoned us. If he had stayed maybe Pete could have survived. Tim betrayed us, he would pay!

I went back to the warehouse I had lived in for the last two years. Pete was dead, Mark was dead. And they probably believed I was dead. There was only a traitor and people I didn't really car about inhabiting that warehouse. And the traitor had to die, so the others were unfortunate collateral damage. I saw the building from a far and knew what I was going to do. I'd have to take the back door to make it work. That's where the gas and electricity lines were. All I had to do was make a cut in the gas pipe and let it fill for a while. The problem was that there was a place the gas could go a small vent leading to the outside of the building. I closed that off with a brick which would keep it under control for a while. The gas would fill the building within ten minutes and then one spark would set it off. Once the pipe was cut and the vent closed off I walked towards the main entrance. I walked inside as if nothing happened. Inside there were five people sitting in silence. When they saw me a spark of hope was on the faces of four of them. Obviously Tim wasn't very happy with me being alive.

"Michael you're alive!" One guy yelled out. I just smiled and nodded keeping my eyes towards Tim. I always believed that he knew I blamed him for the death of Mark and given I was alone he probably figured Pete was dead.

"Yeah I am, not for long if I stay though. Cops are after me. They got Mark and Pete, they're dead." I said normally. I sounded cold and uncaring, I had finished crying, this was revenge. And revenge always turned me cold.

"We thought so, we thought you were dead too." Tim said, faking sympathy.

"I figured. I have to go though. If the cops track me here we're all going down. Mind if I take my share?" I asked, it was a demand more than a question.

"Yeah sure. The loot was 2000, split it through five, 400 each." Tim said. The money was already on the table, it had been counted already. Tim got the stack of 20's and got off 20 of them. Twenty time twenty, four hundred. I put the money in my pocket and spotted a pack of cigarettes on the table. Given Tim had betrayed me and I was seemingly letting him go, I figured I could get any request through.

"Mind if I take those?" I asked casually. Tim nodded and I picked up the pack and put it in my pocket. I still had my lighter in my pocket, all I wanted now was my guitar. "I'm getting my guitar and I'll be gone." The goodbye was no more than a wave of my hand. I didn't even face them. I figured Tim sighed in relief once I left. Everyone knew what I could be like when you hurt my friends. Of course the fact that I was blowing them all up was proof of that. The warehouse was probably filled with gas by now, all it needed was a spark. I walked far from the warehouse, about half a mile before I stopped and leaned against a wall. I got the pack of cigarettes out of my pocket, got one out and lit it. It was Pall Mall, my favourites so to speak. The smoke filled my lungs and I felt relaxed. Of course I didn't have as much stress as Tim just had. I couldn't believe he hadn't lit a cigarette yet. Maybe the pack I took was their last one. I finished my cigarette and dropped it. As the cigarette hit the pavement I heard a huge explosion. Someone had lit a cigarette in the warehouse. I smiled, my task was complete, I had my revenge. It was the second time that I used that warehouse to get it. Ironic.

I left my home town as soon as I could. There was way too much going on that I had my hands in over there. I started heading towards San Francisco, maybe it would be better there. I lived on the streets there. I slept in a trash can. Taught myself how to pick pocket. I turned fifteen on the streets of San Fran. I was alone all the time. The money I had ran out quickly. In the end I had nothing any more. The worst about it were the monster attacks. They kept coming and coming and I had no way of defending myself. Usually I just legged it. I had no way to explain what these things were but they were hunting me constantly. I slept in an alleyway which seemed peaceful when I got attacked by this huge guy with one eye in the middle of his forehead. A Cyclops, like Murdock. After seeing all those monsters I stopped denying that Murdock was really a monster. The thing threw me around like a rag doll and I had no bronze letter openers to protect me this time. I thought I was done for until the thing disintegrated into dust. Someone had stabbed it from behind. It was a tall guy, blond hair and a smile on his face.

"Hey there kid." He said. He seemed a few years older than me. In his late teens I guessed. "I'm Martin. What's your name?" Martin explained to me about demigods. And how he suspected I was one of them. He told me the Greek gods were the real deal and that there was a camp for their kids in New York. I didn't really want to believe it but I had seen some weird things in San Francisco. And when he told me they had food and shelter at camp, I was pretty much sold. I didn't care about the entire demigod thing but I was sick of the streets. So we started heading east. Along the way we stopped at these so called demigod shelters. Martin was a son of Hermes that travelled around trying to find demigods. So he had these shelters along the route to spend the night and stock up on supplies. He started teaching me some things about swordplay which I turned out to have quite a talent for. I didn't talk to Martin much. I can't say I was a very nice person at the time. Especially not after we ran into Samael...

We met Samael near Detroit. The shelter near there was occupied by him. He said he found it while running from a group of monsters. He said he was from Detroit and only recently got troubled by monsters. He got a sword from his mortal dad and was sent to camp half-blood in New York. The sword he had was about 4 feet long. It was celestial bronze and on the side of the blade it said: Shadow-edge. He had a scar across his face and had short trimmed blond hair. He had a sort of darkness lurking over him. Martin didn't like him from the start that was certain. But he didn't really have a choice but to take him. After that Martin and I talked even less. I was always with Samael. He taught me how to wield my sword even better. He was a much better fighter than Martin, he was much more aggressive and ruthless. In many ways we were alike. One night while we were nearly in New York. Me and him started talking about our past victories around a camp fire. He told me about the people he had murdered, I told him about those I killed.

"You burned someone alive?" He asked me. "Bullshit. I can't see you doing it kid, you don't have the guts." He said. I was a fool, I was proud of the horrible things I had done and I wanted to prove myself towards him. He was me but older, stronger, better. I never had a role model in my life. Now I had found one.

"I swear I did." I tried.

"Prove it then. Grab your sword, and stab our little guide over there." He said.

"But then we won't know how to get to camp." I didn't really care about Martin at all, I did want to get to camp though.

"Screw camp. You and I have more important things to do. There's a plan Michael and your a part of it." He said with an evil grin on his lips. I wanted to be a part of it, whatever this plan was. I wanted to be somebody, belong somewhere again. And I felt like I belonged with that plan. I got up picked up my sword and went to Martin. He was standing with his back turned to me. He heard me and turned around facing me.

"Hey Michael, what's up?" He asked. I answered by putting the sword straight through his gut.

"Rest in peace Martin." I twisted the blade and kicked Martin of it. He fell down to the ground. He was still alive. He grabbed my leg trying to pull himself up. I kicked him away and started kicking him again and again until he stopped moving. I heard Samael clapping behind me.

"Well done kid. There might actually be some hope for you." He said. "Come on let's go. We've got someone to go see in the city that never sleeps. Kind of like you for some reason."


	8. Rise, Fall Down, Rise Again

Chapter 8: Rise, Fall Down, Rise Again

Samael and I travelled to New York together. We reached the city early in the morning. He taught me some more sword play and I was actually getting half decent now. The sword I had was weird though. It didn't feel right wielding it. But it didn't matter. I was getting better at killing with a blade, that's what mattered to me at the time.

"So who are we going to see here Samael?" I asked.

"An old friend of mine. If we can get him on our side it would make it a lot easier for us." He said simply.

"Make what easier?" I asked. I didn't really know what Samael's plans were. And if I was a big part of it I wanted to know!

"You ask too many questions kid." He said. I hated it that he called me kid. I was only a few years younger than him. I didn't say anything though. He would probably kill me if I did. Eventually Samael stopped in front of a give or take 40 stories high skyscraper. We didn't talk as we went inside. We took the elevator to the top floor and after we came out we walked up to the roof. The stairs were cracking as we walked up and it didn't seem all too stable. Before we opened the steel door to the roof we could already hear flat punches against something. When Samael opened it there was someone on the roof. He was about my height, had short dark brown hair and was wearing bronze plated gloves. He seemed about the same age as Samael, both were eighteen. Samael seemed a little older because of the grim look and his scar.

"Hello Samael, or whatever you call yourself these days." The guy said with an English accent. He was punching a punching bag hanging from the roof of the little cubic building we came from.

"Hello Jake, I thought you'd know we were coming." Samael said. "I presume I don't have to explain what I want then?" He said. At the time my guess was as good as anyone's. I had no idea what Samael was on about or who this Jake was.

"I can't believe you're stupid enough to even try. You really think I would join your father? I'd die before that." Jake said as he stopped punching the bag.

"You can't stop him Jake, even if you know what he is planning. Hyperion was a piece of cake compared to what he's got planned." Samael said.

"There's more demigods. Even if I die there are others." Jake said. For some reason he seemed to be looking at me while saying that.

"I'm a little disappointed Jake. I thought you'd at least be a little surprised about me being alive." Samael said with an evil smile on his face. I wondered what Samael meant by that. Did Jake believe he was dead?

"It's tough to pay me a surprise visit. Now get out of here." Jake said. I had never seen Samael listen to anyone but himself. I didn't think he would ever be intimidated by anyone but this guy Jake, apparently Samael feared him in some way. He started walking back into the door. I followed him back down the stairs, into the elevator and through the lobby of the building. Once outside he went into an alleyway, I followed him like a slave. He stopped suddenly, I wanted to ask him why but I decided that it was better not to. Without warning he turned towards me and stabbed me with a dagger. The blade went right through my shoulder, I could feel blood dripping down my chest and arm. I screamed in pain. The only person I had the slightest bit of respect for had just stabbed me in the shoulder.

"Sorry Michael, but you're not a part of this after all. I guess you're not as strong as I expected." Samael said. I felt myself slipping away. I wanted to fight Samael but I couldn't find the strength.

"I'll kill you for this Samael. I'll make you pay!" I said. The words barely made sense. I was on the brink of passing out. Darkness covered my sight, I thought I was done for until I heard someone approach. I passed just as someone lifted me in the air.

I woke up in a bed I didn't recognize. It wasn't a hospital bed as was expected. It was a simple room, a few cupboards and a bed that was it. The wound in my shoulder was still there yet it had already started healing. How long was I out for? I got up and walked out of the room. I entered a small living room of a New York apartment. There was no one there. A bronze knife lay on a small coffee table. I picked it up and spun it around a bit. This was obviously the place of a demigod. That's when the front door opened, I pointed the dagger straight at the person who was coming in.

"Good, you're awake earlier than I foresaw." Jake said. "Might want to put that weapon down, you don't stand a chance against me." The guy was quite arrogant and obviously underestimated me a great deal. He had no idea who I was, what I had done.

"You're unarmed, I'll kill you with ease." I said. He smiled. He was wearing the same bronze gloves as he was the last time I saw him. They were guards not weapons, that's what I thought anyway. That's when he flexed the muscles in his wrists and spikes appeared all over the gloves. Now it was a weapon.

"Are you sure?" He said. I wasn't going to be scared into giving up. I lunged at him pointing the dagger at his heart. He grabbed my arm with his left hand and hit me in the nose with the palm of his right hand. I fell backwards, his power was incredible. He obviously didn't want me injured too badly. Else he would have hit me with the spikes not the palm of his hand. I felt blood dripping out of my nose. My nose was definitely broken. I couldn't believe how fast Jake was. I had been fighting all my life but I hadn't seen that coming at all. "Calm down a bit?" I wanted to attack him again but I knew he would only knock me down again.

"Yeah." He flexed his muscles again and the spikes disappeared. He reached out his hand, I grabbed it and he pulled me back to my feet.

"Here take this." He handed me a glass with some really weird content which I knew to be nectar. Martin had given it to me before. It's your regular soda for gods and ultimate medicine for demigods. If a mortal took but a zip of it they would instantly burn up like a match on benzine.

"You're not from around here are you?" I asked. Of course I could figure out that he was British since he sounded like it. But I didn't know what to say. He had saved my life, I knew that. But I felt nothing. I didn't feel thankful, I wouldn't have minded dying right there. I had lost my reason to live long ago. Life had just became an endless fight for nothing but survival. I wondered at that moment if living without a reason was even living at all. And I knew that there wasn't a reason for me to live. No big plan or fate for me. At least, that's what I believed.

"London to be exact." He said.

"How long have you been here?" I asked. I didn't really know why I bothered with the small talk. I didn't care how long he had been in America or where he was from. Yet I asked.

"Cut the crap Michael, I know you don't care in the slightest bit." Jake said. I bet he could read the amazement off my face. How the hell did he know what I was thinking? "No I can't read your mind Michael." And he did it again.

"Then how do you know what I'm thinking?" I asked. Right when I asked my mind started working full throttle. I remembered what Samael said: I thought you'd know we were coming. How would Jake have known? If I understood the conversation well then Jake believed Samael was dead. How could he have known. "You see the future?"

"Bingo." He said. "Ever heard of the titan Prometheus?" He asked me.

"No." I said. Martin had taught me about most of the gods but I guessed he didn't live long enough to tell me about Prometheus.

"He's the Titan of forethought. Also the one that created humans." Jake said. "He's my dad."

"Your dad created humans?" I asked in amazement.

"Yeah but its the forethought that's important. Because of it his children can see the future. Not a long way ahead or anything but long enough." He said. I wondered how long he could look. For some reason the fact that he said he couldn't look far...made it suspicious.

"So you know everything I'm going to do?" I asked him.

"Not necessarily. The future is never certain. One different choice and everything turns out differently. There's very few beings that know the whole future and all its variations." Jake explained. I wondered who these beings were. I didn't ask though.

"So you knew I was going to be stabbed by Samael?" I asked him.

"Nope, I can only see my own future. I heard you scream though. And since I would have checked it out. I did see what I was going to find. Get how it works?" He asked me.

"I guess." I didn't really. But it didn't matter. If he only saw his own future than it was of no importance to me. At the time I couldn't care less if he would die right there.

"Anyway. What are you going to do now?" Jake asked me.

"I'm going after Samael. I want some payback." I said determined. Samael had acted like a friend and mentor before stabbing me in the back...well shoulder. Anyway, I was going to kill him for it.

"You'll never beat him." Jake said. "Not now anyway."

"I'm tougher than you think." I tried. I now believed Jake wasn't that good. He already knew that I was going to hit him earlier. Everyone can intercept a blow that's expected.

"He taught you everything you know right? I can tell you, he hasn't taught you half of what he knows. I can teach you more than he will ever know." Jake said.

"What do you mean?" I asked him.

"I can train you so that you can get your payback. And after that you go to camp with me and try to do something positive for once in your life." He said. How did he know I never did anything good? He didn't know anything about me!

"You don't know me Jake." I snared.

"You were helping out Samael. That tells me enough." Jake said. I wondered about a lot of things at that time. Mostly about what had happened between Jake and Samael. There was obviously bad blood there. I wondered what that meant.

"Okay then. I guess we've got a deal."

I spend weeks living with Jake. He knew much more about swordplay than I could imagine. I grew better over time. Eventually I gave him a good run for his money. As the weeks passed I became calmer. I started to see that what I had been doing in my life was horrible. I used to tell about the things I had done with pride. Now I was ashamed of pretty much everything I had done in my life. I spend many nights on the rooftop just looking at the stars trying to find a way to forgive myself. I never figured out a way. The guilt would haunt me for a lifetime and beyond.

Jake didn't walk much about his quest to stop Hyperion. He told me a lot about his friends though. Mostly about the three others on that quest. He said it was rare that four people went on a quest, he believed that's why Darius or Dean died. 3 is a holy number in the world of demigods. Four leave, only three return. He also told me about the others. Ashlyn West and Sophie Brighton. Whenever he told me about Ashlyn it seemed that he cared more about her than he wanted me (or anyone) to know. Sophie Brighton he didn't tell me a lot about. He said I would meet her shortly. I guessed he could know, he saw the future after all. And sure enough I did. It was February at the time. I had been living with Jake for three months. The signs of spring were all around us. It was still winter of course but it had stopped snowing and the sun showed itself occasionally. Sophie came to the New York apartment on a warm afternoon. The first time I saw her my heart skipped a beat. If angels existed, she was one of them. She had long blond hair, emerald green eyes and a nearly constant smile on her face. Jake had told me she was a daughter of Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty. I didn't really realize that it meant that her daughters were this stunning.

"You must be Michael." She said as she came in the living room. I was sitting on the sofa looking at her with amazement.

"What happened to you Mikey? A bit starstruck are we?" He said laughing. Jake was quite the joker. He said it was his way of forgetting about all of the troubles in the world. It was a thing I took over after time.

"I'm not!" I tried. Of course they didn't believe me at all. Both of them laughed.

"Look Michael, why don't you go up to the roof and train that attack I taught you yesterday. Sophie and I have some catching up to do." Jake said. I left the room as he asked taking one last look at Sophie. At first I wanted to go up the roof, until I heard them mentioning me that is.

"Think he's gone?" Sophie asked. I wasn't of course. I was just outside the apartment door trying to hear them. It was tough but I had good ears.

"Yeah I think so. Its getting tougher to see the near future instead of the years coming." Jake said. What did that mean? He told me he only saw the near future.

"I still think what you're doing is stupid Jake. You're challenging the fates, no one who's done that hasn't regretted it." Sophie said. She sounded concerned. For me it was just another question raiser. I had no idea what she meant with challenging the fates. Maybe I didn't want to know.

"I know but what else am I supposed to do Sophie? I can't let all these things happen. And besides if you and the others just keep your words it will all work out in the end. There are only a few kinks in my plan that need to be worked out but I will. Trust me on this one." He said. His plan? What did all this mean? I had started seeing Jake as a close friend but there were obviously many things I didn't know about him.

"You know I do Jake. It's just...I don't know if what you're doing is right. Are you sure he can even handle this? If he's as bad as you told me he would be...he doesn't look like much." She said. I wondered if she meant me. If she did...she didn't really inspire a lot of confidence. I didn't look like much? What was that supposed to mean?

"If the gods and the fates can have their little plans for our lives, why can't I? I know that this will work. Everything I've planned will be holding him by the hand throughout everything. All he has to do is remember what he's been taught." Jake said.

"I can't stop you from doing this can I?" She asked Jake.

"You can. But if you mess it all up than we're all dead." Jake said. "I'm relying on you and everyone else. I'm putting faith in all of you to do what I won't be able to. I won't put you at risk to do it, you know me." Jake said.

"I know Jake...I know." She said.

The following months I increased my training. The conversation between Jake and Sophie bothered me constantly. I had no clue what they were on about. But I was sure that it was about me. And if it was I didn't like what was being said. So many things about it seemed very very bad. Especially the way Sophie doubted Jake. What I did know of the things they had been through I could imagine that they would have quite a bond of trust. But Jake really had to persuade her to help him with his 'plan'. I tried not to worry too much. If Sophie could trust him even with her doubts than I should do the same. Of course that didn't go too well... Every moment I was wondering what he meant. Of course I knew nothing of the contents of the plan. Maybe it wasn't even about me. Didn't make me worry any less though.

I left in the early days of April. I had pretty much surpassed Jake so we believed Samael should be no problem. So I went after him, well I tried. I knew Samael was hard to track. And in New York not being noticed was pretty easy. I knew no one in the city. And the people Jake knew didn't know anything about Samael. It took me three days to find him. He had been living in one of Martin's demigod hideouts. I didn't even know about this one but if Samael found the Detroit one he probably found this one easily. The place had been used, but like always Samael was one step ahead. He had already left. It was a total mess. All the food, nectar and ambrosia that should be there was gone. There were still a few random weapons laying around. I already had a weapon. The same sword I got from Martin months before. Samael had his own sword. Shadow-edge, a four feet long celestial bronze weapon. Made as a sword to be handled with two hands but light enough to be used with one. The blade seemed simple. But whenever I was close to it I felt something...dark coming off that sword. Others would probably fear that feeling. Me however, felt strengthened by it. At first I believed it was an evil blade, and I was evil. How wrong I was.

I wish I had returned to Jake after that. But I didn't. He had told me not to. He said that if I couldn't find him, I had to go to camp. So I did. Samael could be anywhere, and it was safer for me at camp than at his he said. He also made me believe he had nothing more to teach me. I knew that was a load of bull. In a life or death fight I wouldn't stand a chance against him. He was a swords master. I knew. But he had taught me a lot. I was so much stronger than before, my senses seemed so much more active. Whenever I was in a fight I noticed everything around me. Now it seemed like I always did. It was amazing what a few months of training could do. As I strolled through the woods that led to camp I noticed every little movement around me. Which included the knife flying at my head. I ducked and tried to look for my attacker. There he was, the guy I had been looking for.

He looked even darker than before. His eyes had more blood-lust than ever and he had a wicked smile. He had another scar running from the side of his face down his neck. He hair was a little longer than before yet I expected him to trim it short again sometime soon. He was holding Shadow-edge in his hand, again I felt the sensation of its power.

"He told me you survived." Samael said. I figured he was talking about Jake. I didn't know when they talked, but apparently Samael knew.

"So you have been in New York all this time?" I said.

"You've been trying to find me have you?" He laughed. "With promises to kill me probably? Well then Mike, let's see what Jake taught you." He lunged at me trying to cut me in half with one swing. I rolled out of the way getting ready for his next attack. Defence was the best offence. Jake had taught me many ways to counter attacks instead of aimlessly attacking. Samael was too ruthless to stop attacking. He slashed at me again, this time I blocked his attack and in one fluid motion I created a bleeding cut on his chest. He stepped back, surprised by my newly gained skill. "I guess he taught you quite a bit. Well that's a way of honouring his memory I suppose."

"What are you on about Samael?" I asked him.

"You don't know? Well some friend you are. He's dead Michael. Guess who killed him?" He said with an evil grin. It couldn't be, Samael couldn't have killed Jake. It was impossible! Samael wasn't as strong as he was. More importantly...Jake couldn't be dead.

"You! I"ll KILL YOU!" I couldn't control myself. I attacked him in a blind rage. Just like I had the others that dared hurting my friends. Samael thought that by angering me I would lose concentration and lose control of the fight. Well...he was right. I was no match for his skill and experience without my full concentration. Before I knew what was going on I was covered in deep painful cuts. I nearly collapsed. My legs were shaking and I was feeling light-headed. Blood was dripping down to the ground from pretty much every part of my body. If I lost any more blood I would pass out. I tried to concentrate. If I didn't I was done for. Samael was coming at me again. I could feel my heart pounding in my head. It was so tough to concentrate. The only thing I could do was let instinct take over. I raised my sword and blocked his attack. I moved my sword backwards and with the last strength in my body I pushed the sword into his shoulder. I pushed and pushed until I pinned the tip of the blade into a tree. Samael screamed in pain trying to free himself but the sword was stuck in the trunk. I barely had the strength to stand. The only thing that seemed to make me feel better was Shadow-edge. I picked it up and I felt strength returning to me. Some of it anyway. Samael looked at me with pure hatred.

"I'll get you Michael! You'll die for this!" He said. I ignored him and started walking towards camp. I wasn't going to kill him. That part of my life was done. Jake had helped me to see that I couldn't just end someone's life. Maybe Samael would better his life...yeah I know what you think. It was very naive to think Samael would change, but hell, I did. I knew I was nearly at camp. If I could get there I would be able to get Nectar and Ambrosia which would heal me just fine. I was so close, when an excruciating pain filled my head. I fell down to the ground. The entire world was spinning around me. My sight was blurry, all I could see was someone standing in front of me. He seemed to be a teenager. He had messy blond hair, a sleepy look in his eyes and wore an oversized t-shirt and jogging trousers.

He yawned before saying. "Ugh, what a drag." He yawned again and stretched before disappearing. I wondered who it was. If it was a fragment of my imagination. I couldn't worry about it for long. We both know that after I woke up hours later, I couldn't remember a thing.

The scene of my dream changed as it constantly had. I remembered everything now. I had seen my entire life in one giant dream. As I stood there I wondered how long I was already asleep. Was I still asleep? There was nothing around me. Pure darkness, and my reflection in front of me. I believed it was my reflection anyway. He looked exactly like me. The only thing was that he had a wicked smile on his face and a blood thirsty look in his eyes. He was me...but he wasn't. He drew his sword, it was like my sword. Or was mine like his?

"Well Angel...I guess this is where it begins."


	9. The New Me's

Chapter 9: The new me's

I opened my eyes, the light of the infirmary blinded me. Tears were filling my eyes. "Hey mate, you're finally awake?" I heard Luke say. I couldn't answer. I couldn't breath, I was choking on guilt. I tried to be strong, but it wasn't long before I cried my eyes out. How could I be that person? How could I have never felt guilt for the things I did? How could Jake be dead? Had Samael really killed him? Nothing made sense to me. I couldn't imagine myself doing the things I remembered doing. Yet...I had. I had killed so many, hurt so many more. How was I supposed to live with myself? "I suppose it's true then?" He said. He looked sad about it. Maybe he had tried not to believe it but I had confirmed his fears. Evie had been proven right after all.

I still couldn't speak, so I nodded in agreement. I had been putting up a good fight against the tears. Some still escaped and rolled over my cheeks but I tried to be strong. I had never allowed myself to show weakness. Even after my mother died, I only cried once. There was silence for a long time. I was trying to pull myself together and I guess Luke didn't know what to say. "How long was I out?" I asked.

"It's been weeks. Its already summer. Pretty much all demigods have come back." He said. "You went out May 21st. It's now June 24th." A month? I had been out for a month? I couldn't believe I had been out for so long. It seemed like weeks but to think it really was. For some reason though. I was tired, more so than I had ever been in my life.

"I want to be alone for a little bit Luke." I said. I didn't want to show weakness in front of anyone else and I knew there were going to be more tears. Given what memories had just returned to me there couldn't be anything but tears. I wanted to break down completely. Just shut myself off the world I had treated so badly. When I first spoke to Jake he said I had never done any good in my life. That was true. I had never done anyone a favour or made anyone's life better. I had destroyed lives, not just ended them. Seth was in a mental hospital because of me, I turned him insane. I deserved worse then death for the things I did.

"Yeah I get it." He said. "Just make sure you come out some time soon all right? You've been in here way too long." He said. I nodded and rolled over. Another tear rolled over my cheek. It would be the final one. I didn't want to cry any more. The way I felt, the guilt overflowing was something I felt once before. It was when I lived with Jake. The truth was when I started living with him I disliked him. He was a good fighter and that I respected but I got annoyed with him. I was still proud of the things I did to people and was still ruled by rage. By still being that way I annoyed Jake. Well eventually it kind of clashed.

I was sitting on the roof, finished punching the punching bag that was there. I was being lazy, I was too arrogant to admit that I really needed training in order to beat Samael. I knew it in the back of my head, I wasn't a complete idiot.

"Why aren't you training?" Jake asked. He was down the stairs making his way up but given his ability to see into the future he already knew that I wasn't training. Either that or he didn't hear the chain of the punching bag move. Either way he knew I wasn't doing anything.

"Why bother. I can beat Samael. I'll rip his heart out." Like I said I was arrogant. The way I was at the time in a fair fight Samael would destroy me. I was an okay fighter but Samael was good. I still doubt that I was actually stronger than him when I beat him in the woods surrounding camp half-blood. I still think the only reason I won was because Samael underestimated me.

"You really think that?" Jake asked with his eye brows raised. He sounded annoyed and I really didn't blame him. I still wonder how I put up with myself. I got up trying to act tough. Such a fools act.

"You think you're so good but you've got an advantage no one else has. You know exactly what I'm going to do. It's not fighting like that. If you know every punch I throw you don't even have to try. If it wasn't for your daddy I could take you out!" Such a fool I was. Let me tell you something about Jake. Jake is from Hayes, a neighbourhood in London. And as he told it it wasn't the nicest neighbourhood in London. He had been raised in a place almost as violent as the one I had been raised in. And in those times there were many people that tried to mess with him and Jake wasn't known for his long fuse. So right after I stopped talking I felt his fist connect with my face. I was surprised, I didn't think he'd go for me like that but I accepted the challenge. I tried to hit him back but just before my fist hit his face he knocked away my arm and punched me in the face again. His arms were so quick. I tried to get a punch through his defence but for every punch I threw I got hit twice. I kept standing until Jake hit me in the ribs, I heard the bone snap. The pain in my side was horrible but Jake wasn't done yet. With a jab he hit me in the face again, I heard my nose break. Blood streamed down from my nostrils. He finished me off with a powerful hook with threw me to the ground. I had never been beaten this badly. I felt one of my teeth was loose and I had a bad wound on the inside of my mouth. I spit on the ground, there were only a few traces of saliva among the blood.

"You really think you're that tough? You're a joke Michael! I don't need to see the future in order to beat you. You're just an arrogant brat! Samael will fuck you up! And I say, let him. You're just as bad as him. I thought you were just misguided but you...you take pride in the things you've done. You've ruined lives! How can you be proud of that!" Jake's words...they did something to me. I still don't understand why I actually listened to him. I never listened to anyone because I believed I knew everything better than they did.

"You know nothing about me!" I tried. I knew he had it exactly right. That was the thing that angered me so much. "Everything I did, they all deserved it! They were the killers, I was the avenger." For most of my victims this was true. But it had been a while since I could claim that was true. Martin was innocent, he never hurt me or anyone close to me. And well...Samael and I hadn't been good guys either. It was only now that I realized that though. I didn't kill for revenge any more, I killed because I enjoyed it. I had fallen that far.

"You know that's a lie." Jake said. I agreed with him now. About a second ago I wouldn't have but I started to realize that I hated the person I had become. I was a monster. How could I only realize that now.

"What have I done?" I said more to myself than to Jake. I saw the faces of the people I killed. The terrified expression on Williams face. The cashier of that convenience store as I punched his face in. Their faces were burned into my mind. I had forgotten about what I had done to them. I had somehow justified it in my twisted mind. I felt all the guilt come to me in one hit. It was a depression that took me a while to get through. Jake helped me a lot. And I came out stronger. I knew why I was going after Samael. Not because I wanted revenge, but because justice had to be done. It would be the start of my redemption, that's how I saw it anyway. It turned out great...not.

Again I stood in that same darkness. Myself in front of me. He didn't have his sword drawn this time. He had the same smile though. It was a sadistic, evil grin that I would never forget. "Here we are again Angel." He said.

"Who are you?" I asked me.

"Well...I'm you. Sort of." He said. His grin never broke. He seemed smarter than me, stronger. As if I should just lay down and crawl around like a dog in his presence. Maybe that was just me though.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I tried to sound tough. It didn't work too well. I sounded weak and afraid. Like a child that doesn't understand a single thing. Maybe I was just that.

"I'll try to explain it to a child like you." He used the words I thought, how was that possible? Was he in my head? "When you gained all of our precious memories well...your mind couldn't handle it. You were too weak to deal with it all so your mind adapted. That's why it took so long for you to wake up. The human mind is very fascinating that way. It split into two. One who holds all of that rage and homicidal loveliness. And the other one..." He said the first part with pride and excitement. While he seemed to look down on the other one, who I believed was me.

"So what does that all mean?" I asked. I really did sound like an idiot. I didn't know why but around him I was nothing. I had no confidence or strength of any kind. I felt like I could break down any second.

"Why do I even bother?" He said frustrated. "You belong in the nut house. Luckily you have me, I'll keep us out of there. That's why I'm the strong one right?" He said.

"I guess." I didn't know why I agreed with him. It felt as if any objection I would have was stupid and pointless. I had to believe in my...strong side. "So what do I call you?" I asked.

"You've already taken our middle name so I guess that's out of the question. Neither of us are really Michael any more...so I guess I'll go with Colt." He said. "A good gun the original Colt. Deadly, powerful and accurate, sounds like me in every way." He said smiling. I didn't really know what to say to...Colt. I was an insect in his presence. What was I supposed to say?

"What you said to me...before I woke up. What did you mean?" I asked him.

"Samael was right...you do ask too many questions. Can't you figure anything out yourself? This is the start of that big plan of Jake's. Obviously that guy popping out of no where whipping clear our memories wasn't done without a reason. Someone told him to do that...and three guesses who?" Colt said.

"Why would Jake try to erase my...our memories?" I asked him.

"Probably because he thought it would make you a better person. I mean you've never been a goody two shoes and that beating he gave you wasn't going to change that. But without all those memories of pain and death you actual became a normal person." I wondered how he figured this all out and I hadn't. Was he really that much smarter.

"How come you know all this and I don't?" I asked Colt. "We used to be the same person right? I should know these things as well as you do."

"I told you before!" He seemed to get kinda annoyed with all the questions. He had a short fuse that was for sure. "I am everything you hate about the person we used to be. The hatred, the distrust the sadistic side of our personality. There was always a little voice in your head that told you Jake was lying about certain things, I'm that voice so to speak."

"I don't understand any of this." I said.

"Of course you don't. Come on Michael was never smarter then when he wanted to kill someone. So I guess I have most of his intellect too." Colt said. I noticed how he started going from us to calling our former self Michael. I understood why. Michael didn't exist any more, we weren't one person any more. Better to talk about him like he was someone else than make a connection between the two of us.

"So how does this work? You're going to be a voice in my head all the time?" I asked.

He chuckled wickedly. He was mocking me, or so it seemed. He thought he was the king of the world. I was nothing but his servant. "Not exactly, you'll find out soon enough."

I didn't get an explanation before waking up. It was morning, the sun's light broke through the few square windows in the infirmary. Every bed was empty. I was the only one there now. I wondered when they moved me here from the Hypnos cabin. Maybe when I didn't woke up later that day, or later that wake. Eventually I didn't even wake up later that month. Outside I heard people talk, whisper. I wondered what was going on. On the night stand beside my bed was a set of clean clothes. A simple black t-shirt saying camp half-blood in white letters, jeans, underwear and socks. On the ground in front of the night stand were simple blue sneakers. I got dressed and stretched. I had been in that bed for weeks. My muscles were sore and stiff. But after that long a sleep I had never been so awake! I wasn't planning on sleeping this long ever again though. Not if my dreams remained this bad. I hoped that Colt was just some weird spur of my imagination. What he said couldn't be true. A split personality just like that, it seemed unlikely.

Outside the whole camp seemed anxious. Something had happened that was certain. Everyone was running around aimlessly. Eventually I spotted Luke coming down Half-blood hill. If anyone knew what was going on it was him. "Luke, what happened?"

"Are you sure you don't know?" He asked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" It sounded like a accused me of something. I had been asleep all night. For a moment I wondered if Colt was real. Was this what he meant by 'you'll find out soon enough'? Maybe he had done something I couldn't remember. That didn't make sense to me though. Our memories wouldn't be separate and I was sure I was in bed.

"Look mate, I've tried not to believe Evie. But this is a bit weird isn't it? You remember your life and one of us gets killed? I believe in coincidence but this is way past that."

"Someone got killed? Who?" I asked. I looked crushed, had I done it? Had I murdered someone again? Was I really a total nut with a split personality?

"His name's Tom. He was unclaimed. It took his mortal side younger sister to identify him. There's barely anything left of him..." Luke said. He looked like he was desperate. I didn't know if this Tom was a friend of his. But something about his death touched Luke greatly. Maybe because I was suspect number one, maybe because it meant someone at camp (if it wasn't me) was killing off demigods in a horrid way. And if it wasn't a friend of his now...it might be next time.

"Luke...I swear it wasn't me." I looked at him sincerely. If he could spot lies like a master, he wouldn't spot one on me. After all I wasn't lying. If Colt had done it...it still wasn't me. Not exactly anyway.

"I want to believe you Angel. I really do. But...I don't know." Luke said. I understood why he doubted me. He had reason to. He knew Evie longer than he knew me and right now she seemed a more reliable source.

"Take me to the body. Whether you believe me or not, I have experience in these things. I want to see." I said. I had seen death and I had caused it. I wasn't a CSI but I could probably figure out some things by seeing the body. Mostly I wanted to know if it was anything I would do.

"All right then, follow me." We went back up the hill. Quite deep into the woods. We went outside the border, which meant it could have been a monster attack, as soon as I saw Tom's lifeless corpse I threw that theory out of the window. He was tied to a tree, cuts all over his body and face. None of the main arteries were cut. This was purely sadistic torture. Blood was all over his face, he only had a few teeth left and his eyes were cut making him completely blind, his tong was cut out to make sure he couldn't scream. This guy went through an awful lot of pain before bleeding to death. The torture could have gone on all night. No one could hear it and very few people were out in the woods late at night. The cuts were clean and went past anything vital. Creating nothing but pain and slow dripping blood. Everything about it...was exactly the way I would do it. If I wanted to torture someone, for any reason, this was pretty much the perfect way to do it without any fancy materials.

"Out of the way amateur, I want to get a look at the body." Someone said behind me. He pushed me out of the way and started inspecting the body. He ignored pretty much everything important. He only looked at it to seem like he knew anything about it.

"Sorry about that, my partner gets a bit too exited when we get a new job." Another guy said. He stuck his hand out to me and helped me up. "Hectar Garner, high school detective, pleased to meet you." The guy said. He looked about thirteen, maybe fourteen. He had dark spiky hair and a sly smile on his lips. "The other guy is Alex Jones." He said, I didn't answer him. I was too amazed at the entire high school detective thing. Had they been watching too much CSI?

"Well looks like we're not getting an easy summer Hectar." Alex said. "Seriously, we get so much work during school that we hope to come here and have some peace. Put I guess crime has to be stopped everywhere." Alex said. He tried acting like some kind of super detective. I had to try hard not to burst out in laughter.

"So what kind of 'jobs' do you get? Stolen pens? Someone got killed here, do you have a single clue what happened to this guy?" I asked. These were a bunch of idiots. They seriously annoyed me simply because they did this because they thought it was a game.

"Well he obviously got cut a lot." Hectar said.

"Probably a sword those are most common around here." Alex continued. He was basing this on nothing at all. And he called me an amateur.

"Wrong. Look at the cuts. They're aren't deep, perfectly aimed, and cut in a specific length. A sword is too long and thick to make those kind of cuts. This was done by a dagger or something like that."

"Well...I knew that." He tried. I saw Luke trying not to laugh. Of course this was a bit morbid. Here we were standing next to a guy who had just died horribly and I used it to prove these guys that they absolutely sucked at being detectives. "I'm pretty sure it was personal though. Why else would you want to hurt someone this bad?" He wasn't so sure of himself any more. Right now he was just trying to save himself a little bit. If he had been right, maybe he would have.

"Bullshit. If you hate someone enough to kill them then you just kill them. You go for something that kills them quickly. The neck, stomach, heart, something fatal. Whoever did this just wanted to cause pain until his victim couldn't take it any more."

"Maybe we shouldn't get involved in this one Alex." Hectar was right. Whether it was me or someone else this person was extremely dangerous. He enjoyed doing this, and he would do it again.

"No, this is our job! Luke get this guy out of here!" Alex yelled. He wanted to be the hero too badly. I didn't care. I wouldn't get in their way of their CSI play time. I wanted to see the body to know if it fit me in any way. Truth was...it did but didn't. I would do this but I never had and not this random. I had just stated that no one would do this if it was personal but it was exactly what I would do when it was personal. But this guy, there was nothing personal about it. If I or Colt killed him, it was completely random.

"Fine." Luke said. "Just make sure you get him back to camp, get him a shroud and all that. We're going to give him a proper goodbye." Alex and Hectar nodded and Luke and I started making our way back to camp. We didn't speak, mostly because what we wanted to say was too important, we couldn't have them hear us. "So...what do you think?"

"Luke, it wasn't me. I can tell you why."

"Of course you can, anything to prove your innocence." Luke said with the same accusing tone he had earlier.

"Look, every time I...killed. Or tortured, it was for a reason."

"And that makes it all right?" Luke said raising his eye brow making the 'wondering' face.

"That's not what I'm trying to say. When ever I killed it was because someone hurt my friends, or knew something I wanted to know. It was always personal. And even though sometimes I wanted to cause pain, never like this. This killing is totally random. He has no importance to me at all, the three friends that I have here are fine and there really isn't anything I want to know. I'm a bad person Luke, but I'm not a fucking maniac." I said. I thought it was a good plea for my innocence. Even Evie had said that I always killed out of revenge and it was true that Tom had done nothing to earn my wrath. Even Luke had to see that even though it looked like it, I didn't kill this person.

"It makes sense. But that brings us to the next question. If you didn't do it, I'm not saying that you didn't." Of course he still didn't trust my plea 100%. "But if you really didn't. Then who did?"

"That's a very good question Luke." I could hear Colt laughing in the depths of my mind. I knew who killed Tom, only...how was I going to explain it to everyone?


	10. The Girl Who Knew Too Much

Chapter 10: The girl who knew too much

That night I believed I was asleep. And in a way I was. But Colt wasn't. He took over while I slept, I didn't even notice. But he was out in the woods while I believed I was in bed. He strolled through the woods like a ghost. He didn't have a purpose, a cause or a reason to do so. In that way he was like me. Only he found something to do...his hobby so to speak. Walking through the woods was a girl we knew all too well. Her name was Evie, the girl that knew our past. Why did Colt do what he did to her? Your guess is as good as mine. I guess if was simply...to be evil. He wasn't evil because he had to be, but because he wanted to be. He loved causing pain, he loved hearing people scream for help and salvation of the pain. And Colt knew how to cause pain. Michael knew how to cause pain, but Colt was on a whole different level. Michael used torture to get what he wanted, Colt used torture to cause a person so much pain that they begged for death. And if it went on long enough, they always did.

She tried to be quiet, but it didn't matter. Colt had been on to her from the start. She walked deep into the woods, not suspecting a thing. If only I realized what was going to happen, maybe I could have stopped it. But I wasn't even sure Colt was actually in control from time to time. He didn't make a single noise, he was the perfect predator. She only noticed him because he wanted her to. He stood there, leaning against a tree pretty much right in front of her.  
>"Hello beautiful." He said. Colt was...charming in a way. Why? Not to get a girlfriend that was certain. It was just a tactic, you could get close to someone if they trusted you, and breaking someone was much easier when you were close to them. It was why I was so useful to him. If I made a friend he could use whatever I knew about them against them. If a good friend told me they were afraid of spiders Colt would terrorize them with eight legged freaks. That was how he was, it was the perfect way of messing with someone's mind. It was simply fun for Colt to manipulate a person, it was one of his many skills. It's one of the things that I always hated most about him. He was better than me in anything. He was smarter, stronger and far more dedicated. He wasn't weakened by emotions like guilt and love. The only thing he knew was hatred, and there were very few people he hated. He didn't kill because he hated a person. And when he did...that's when it got really bad.<br>"You." Evie said. She obviously still hated me, only she didn't realize that she wasn't talking to me. "And you shouldn't call me that...it's uncomfortable." Her every word spoke hatred. But Colt noticed something other than hatred. Sadly he was a good judge of character. Speak to him for ten minutes and he'll be able to predict your every move. Colt didn't need to be a son of Prometheus to see the future. He could just predict what people were going to do. He'd make a good psychiatrist. Sadly he chose to use his skills to mind-fuck people and to destroy their lives.  
>"Ahh don't be like that. I've been trying to make a move on you for a while now. Truth is I love the way you hate." Colt said smiling. He walked closer towards Evie, if she let him close she was dead. If she noticed anything she would run and only give more fun to Colt. Either way, Evie was fucked.<br>"You're not Angel are you? But you're not Michael either...who are you? Evie said. She noticed the difference between the three of us. She knew us better than anyone. I was obviously the kinder side of Michael but Colt...he was something completely new. He was way more evil and sadistic than Michael ever was. He was different than anyone ever. He was mad.  
>"Well Evie...I guess you can call me Colt...and trust me, you would have been happy if I was Michael." Colt said with an evil grin. I wished I could help her...but I wasn't involved in this...my body was. But my mind was gone, there was only Colt now. She didn't wait around to find out if Colt was worse. She ran as fast as she could. Colt enjoyed the chase. "Ah don't run away." Colt said sarcastically. He chuckled before following her. She ran fast, faster than I had ever seen anyone run. Demigods were faster than mortals, so a demigod being chased by a serial killer was a lot faster than a mortal track runner. Colt just walked, he didn't lose track of her. Eventually she had to stop running, she was panting leaning up to a tree praying to the gods that she had lost him. "The woods seem so big when you are being chased don't they?" Colt said with a sadistic smile covering his face. Evie wanted to start running again, but Colt didn't really like that idea. He threw a dagger into her ankle, making her unable to run or walk any more. Don't ask me how he got it, your guess is as good as mine. Colt was resourceful. If he knew that he might need a dagger, then he would get himself one. After all it was a dagger that killed Tom. My worst fears had come true. I…well Colt, had killed Tom. And now he was going to kill Evie too.<br>"How can you do this to me? I gave you your memories back didn't I!" Evie said. "I knew I shouldn't have, I knew you would become the monster you once were." She said. She knew she was going to die, all three of us knew.  
>"Well, maybe you shouldn't have. But of course you didn't just see the bad parts did you? You saw a Michael no one else had seen. You saw him laugh, you saw him cry. And a part of you…loved him didn't it?" Colt said.<br>"Shut up! I couldn't care less about you!" She said.  
>"Me? We aren't talking about me. But that's not important. I wonder though, are you afraid?"<br>"NO!" She tried. She was lying. Fear could be read on her face like you read a book. But she was brave, she didn't want to show it.  
>"Well if you say so." Colt said smiling, her lying made it all the more fun. She wanted to be brave, then he had to break that bravery. He took the dagger and twisted it, making the wound bigger and hurting her a lot. She screamed in pain but she kept a strong and unbreakable face. "You try to be so strong, but you're not. You want to beg me to let you live only you can't move away your pride. Pathetic." Colt said as he continued to twist the dagger. She screamed some more, and the more she screamed the more he twisted, and the more he laughed. Eventually he pulled the dagger out. "I grow tired of your screaming, do you want me to cut out your tongue like I did to the other one?"<br>"So you killed Tom? How could you! He never did anything to you!" Evie yelled.  
>"Well he sure did look at me funny. And anyway he was just a try out. Don't worry darling you're the main event." Colt said. "Anyway…the truth is you're not random like the other one. You saw way too much Evie, so maybe it's time to take those pretty eyes of yours." An evil smile appeared on Colt's face as he cut a clean horizontal cut over both Evie's eyes. She screamed again, I couldn't imagine what pain she went through. After that he started to cut randomly avoiding any main artery just like he did to Tom. She screamed and scream but there was no relief from the pain. Not until Colt got bored with her screaming. "Well Evie, I'm horribly sorry but I can not extend your death any longer. Farewell Evie, I hope you go through the underworld blind and in pain." Colt said smiling. That's when he took her wrists and cut them both. He would leave her like that. She would bleed to death in a few minutes, extending the pain even more. Before Colt could walk away she spoke.<br>"I know that Angel is in there somewhere...It's not you're fault Angel... I'm so, so Sorry for this... for what I've done to you... I'm so very sorry." Colt looked at her like she was mad. "I can see the stars…They're so beautiful." That's when her heart stopped beating. She had gone through so much pain only to die in the most undignified death I could imagine.  
>"What an over dramatic bitch." Colt said. He walked off, leaving the dagger. He wanted me to find it I guess, I was never sure about that. Maybe he just didn't see an obvious use for it any more. And hell, if he needed another dagger he would find a way to get it.<p> 


	11. Alone

Chapter 11: Alone

The news of Evie's death hit camp like a bomb. Everyone talked about it, and everyone seemed to know that Evie and I weren't at the best of terms. They didn't know why, but knowing we didn't like each other was a reason to accuse me. Chiron wouldn't have any of it, or so he said. Of course he couldn't deny that my case was weak. The day I regain my memories Tom dies, the day after, Evie. Everything pointed at me, and it was me. Colt didn't seem to bother with not being caught. He probably didn't even care. I tried not to seem suspicious, I seemed to have a talent for it back when I was Michael so why wouldn't I have that now? Still I could feel the stares burn in my back. Everyone was talking about me, I hated it. I used to love being in the spotlight but now I couldn't stand it. Maybe it was one of the traits Colt took from Michael.

Dinner was horrible. Everyone was whispering and looking at me. All the seats around me were empty, trust me that was rare for the Hermes table. Even the people I knew were giving me weird looks. I felt alone, hated. I had a tough life, but I had never been alone. Even when I just came to the orphanage Peter and I became friends in the first week that I lived there. I lived on the streets of L.A with people, and I wasn't in San Francisco long before Martin found me. But now I was alone, I wondered how many people here had felt alone. The stories were that most demigods didn't fit in with mortals. I never had a problem with that but if most of the people there knew what it was like to be alone, how could they shun me like this? I guess when rumours were going round it didn't matter. In the end I got up and leave, I wasn't going to get pissed or whatever. I just walked away. Back in the day I never did. I always went into every conflict head on. Look where it got me.

My friends dead, a second personality and the feeling of being completely alone. I went to the only person who might help. Luke Ford, the only one that didn't hate me as far as I knew. He was the son of Hephaestus, so the forge was the only logical destination. The forge was a grease monkey's heaven. Everything you needed to make pretty much anything was there, from ancient forges to the newest tools available. There were also weapons laying around everywhere. Swords, axes daggers everything. I didn't think I was a son of Hephaestus but I wouldn't have minded being there everyday. The only thing was the bloody heat. With all the flames burning it wasn't healthy for people who didn't like extreme heat like me. There seemed to be one other person there that seemed to be bothered by it. It was a girl, a darn good looking one. She reminded me of someone. I hadn't seen her before that was certain but I recognized her. I didn't know her and since she probably heard the rumours about me I didn't expect a nice conversation but I had to know.  
>"Hey." I said awkwardly. I didn't really know how much she had heard and more importantly how much she believed. By now I figured the stories much have escalated. Two days, two deaths. What were they saying that I was a descendent of Jack the Ripper or the real life Hannibal Lecter? I didn't even want to know. I constantly tried to convince myself that no one would believe rumours like that but I knew they all did. People were so gullible.<br>"Hey." She said smiling. "You're Angel right?" She said. So she knew something about me. Although her smile didn't make me believe that she hated me like all the other campers seemed to.  
>"Yeah. Who are you?" I wanted to ask her if she was a daughter of Hephaestus but I didn't want to make that assumption. As far as I knew many demigods were insulted when asked such a question unless it was actually true.<br>"I'm Maria Wilson, daughter of Aphrodite. Have you seen Luke?" As soon as she said Aphrodite I knew. Her hair was dark and she had green eyes. But that's how I recognized her.  
>"You're Sophie's sister!" I said, it sounded stupid but when I figure something out I get exited. I never convinced myself I was smart or very quick witted (of course the arrogant side of me would never admit this) so when I did figure something out I was happy about it.<br>"You've seen Sophie?" Given I only just got my memories back I kinda forgot that me meeting Sophie was a long time ago, and that Sophie had been missing for most of that time. I wondered if she was dead, many (like Grace) seemed to think so. I didn't know if Sophie and Maria were close but I would expect that she would definitely be one of the people that believed that she was still alive somewhere, or at least hoped so.  
>"I met her in New York months ago. I just thought I recognized you from something...I guess it was that." I said. I couldn't really see big resemblances but there were a few small ones. So small I can't even explain them. I think that most people that knew both Maria and Sophie would agree with me.<br>"Okay." She said thinking it was a bit weird probably. "We don't even look alike that much." I didn't know if she was offended, maybe she was. The Aphrodite girls didn't seem like the most humble kind. Apparently Maria thought a lot more of herself than she did about Sophie. In modern religion hubris was a sin. In Greek mythology...not so much. The gods themselves were the most arrogant beings that existed. All the gods felt they were greater than any other being. I wasn't a big fan of the god mostly because of their arrogance and their ignorance. They thought they were so great but their western civilization was rotten. Something they ignored, or were too stupid to notice. I figured it was what they ignored because I didn't see the gods as complete idiots. Well...not all of them. Maria's mother, Aphrodite, was the most shallow goddess in my opinion...but I couldn't call the goddess of beauty, love and sexuality the most arrogant. Her daughters usually were though.  
>"I guess I have an eye for those kind of things." I said.<br>"Whatever." I started liking this girl less and less. "Anyway, have you seen Luke?" She asked me again. I completely ignored her question last time.  
>"I haven't seen him, no. I came here looking for him actually. Why are you looking for him?" I asked her.<br>"I'm his girlfriend duh." She said. The longer I talked to her the more she reminded me of those bratty L.A girls I knew in the orphanage. Most of them were ugly as the night and had nothing to brag about but still they found a way to make themselves believe they should be queen of the universe. Of course Maria had some stuff to brag about...but I still got annoyed by her bitchy attitude. "Anyway, he talked about you with Evie. I thought you might know as you seem to be camps biggest fuss at the moment." She said. I wondered if she even knew Evie was dead. It didn't matter to me. I wanted to get away from her as soon as I could. And since Luke wasn't here, that's exactly what I was planning to do.  
>"Well I don't know. I guess I'll talk to him later." I walked off. I could hear her whatever me again. I didn't care what she thought of me. I didn't know where go at that point though. I didn't want to go to the Hermes cabin. So I went to the woods, I didn't care if that made me suspicious. Chiron told everyone should stay out of the woods. I didn't care for his warnings. After all Colt could hardly hurt me. I spend hours there. Until it was nearly dark.<p>

I was sitting at the place where I woke up without memories. That seemed so long ago. Of course it had been a couple of months but most of them I spend in a coma . Luke had been right, now I wished I still had amnesia. But now that came too late. It was getting colder slowly, I had decided not to go back to the cabin. I didn't care if I had to sleep in the woods. I wasn't tired, I was just there as time passed me slowly. I was thinking about the things I knew about myself. So many bad memories. I started to think about San Francisco, a city that did me more bad than good. I survived there for a while with the four hundred dollars I had but pretty soon I was out of money. I didn't feel like living in alleys and play grounds. So I went to the place I figured I'd be accepted, the house of god. Of course I had a lot to confess to the lord, something I never got round to doing. I was taking in though. Got a small room in the cloister. I was given food, water and 'prayer'. Not really a gift. More like something I was forced to do. I didn't believe in God, if there was a God I'd say he's a cunt. I had seen so many horrible things, if there was a god, how could he allow that? But the priests didn't have to know my opinion on those things. I should have been thankful for them even keeping me in. I stayed there for six weeks before I was sick of the praying and the talk about good. I did something then I would never be able to justify. I went downstairs, my stuff was packed and I was ready to leave. But I didn't just leave. I had to give a big F-U to the church. And given how much oil and candles there were, I just couldn't resist. I got a glass bulb filled with oil and made a trail from the altar to a big pool of oil down the carpet of the church. The carpet was decorated with pictures of Jesus' march with the cross. It seemed quite old and it was a true waste to burn it. But I didn't care about that. I got one of the burning candles and threw it on the pool of oil. The fire danced on the carpet and towards the alter. The carpet burned, the alter burned and soon the wooden benches and everything else that was lightly flammable burned. I stood by the door of the church watching it burn. The flames danced till they reached the image of Jesus on the cross at the far end of the church. That's when one of the priests came downstairs watching his church burn.

"No!" He yelled. "You monster! How can you do this after all we did for you!" The priest screamed at me. I just stood there smiling. I turned away and made my way out of the door. The priest tried to put out the flames but in the process he himself got caught in the fire. I heard his screams as I walked down the steps. The fire-fighters arrived once I left the street. Another one of my gruelling deeds had been done.

"Angel?" Luke's voice got my out of my memory. Luke didn't sound very happy. I didn't reply. He was coming in my direction anyway, so what did it matter. He stood right in front of me after a while, he didn't look very happy either. "Here you are."  
>"Hey Luke." I said. Obviously Luke had heard of Evie's death and was done giving me the benefit of doubt.<br>"Stay away from her Angel. I won't let you hurt her too." He said. Apparently he was more protective of his girl than I thought. It wasn't very surprising. Every guy was protective of his girl. Especially against someone who could possibly be a serial killer. Well by now it was pretty obvious that it was me.  
>"You too huh?" Even Luke had given up on me. I was truly alone now. Maybe Grace would still talk to me but I doubted that. Why would she if she believed the rumours? She didn't seem the kind of girl that would question a rumour that every camper believed.<br>"Come on Angel. Did you really think I still believe you? First Tom than Evie? The only one capable of doing that...is you." He was right. At least I think he was. I doubted any other camper was as mentally fucked up as I was.  
>"You don't understand anything Luke." He just drew conclusions while he didn't even listen to what I had to say, it was typical.<br>"I don't give a fuck. But if you hurt anyone else. I swear to the gods I will kill you. And if you dare hurting her I will send you to Hades just like you send Evie."  
>"I'd like to see you try." I said looking him straight in the eyes. He had beaten me before but when it was life or death I would probably put up a better fight. And now that I had my memories it wasn't all instinct any more. He didn't say anything after that. He left me alone. I was alone. Everyone thought I was some ruthless killer. And I was. Well Colt was. I realized...I wasn't alone. Ever since I got my memories back I would never be alone. I could hear him...talk to me. I couldn't understand him at first. I had to concentrate, it felt like some sort of meditation. I went into the deepest of my mind until I heard him. He had my voice, but it sounded...different. He sounded manipulative and more confident. Just like he had when I first met him.<br>"They all hate you Angel. If they want a killer, let them have one." I knew what he meant. He wanted me to give up control. To let him take over to get...revenge so to speak. "If we work together we can be stronger than them. We don't need these puny wannabe heroes. We'll kill them one by one until they beg for out mercy." I knew it was stupid. But I was alone and angry. So after listening to his please...I answered.  
>"Okay."<p> 


	12. Love, Hate, Revenge

Chapter 12: Love, Hate, Revenge

Colt had gotten what he wanted. I was still in there somewhere. I knew what I had done...but Colt had a plan. He was stronger than I was. I knew what he was going to do was wrong but what did it matter now? Everyone already hated me and believed I was a murderer so I might as well be one. Of course I didn't know how bad Colt was. I didn't remember him killing Evie or Tom. But now I saw Colt's every move as if I was doing it. Only it wasn't me that was doing anything. I should have known how bad he was, after all I saw Tom's mutilated body. I shouldn't have listened to him...but I wasn't that strong. Ask yourself, if the world hates you and you have a horrible method of revenge...could you resist that temptation? I know I couldn't. Revenge was something I gave in to easily. I held grudges and was willing to end the person I had a grudge against. Revenge was a thing that made me.

He moved like some sort of shadow even in broad daylight. No one seemed to notice him, and those that did turned their heads. I walked around with my eyes pointed at the ground making myself look smaller than I actually was while Colt walked with his head held high. Everything about him made you understand that he was better than you. He seemed to know where he was going, I had no idea. He seemed to be able to know what I was thinking yet I couldn't get any idea as to what he was thinking. Knowing Colt, I probably didn't want to know. As soon as I saw Maria...I knew what he was planning. And right there and then...I wished I had been stronger.  
>"Hey Maria." Colt said. He sounded like me now, it seemed like all his confidence had disappeared. Colt turned out to be a pretty good actor. Which made him even more dangerous.<br>"Hey Angel." She said. She sounded nicer than she did the day before. "I'm sorry about yesterday. I had a bit of a bad day."  
>"I get it. I mean the deaths, you're sister being missing, it must be hard." Colt sounded understanding, I didn't get why he did this. But he had a plan, and it wasn't good.<br>"Thanks. You know what they say about you? Everyone thinks you're the killer." She said. She seemed interested. As if she believed that by talking to me...or Colt she could find out. And if she could see through the act Colt was putting up she would find out that I was the killer. But his act was pretty good, I doubted she'd see the difference.  
>"They're wrong. If anyone knew anything about me they would see that. I've seen people die right in front of me. I could never hurt someone like that, I saw the bodies. I'm not capable of anything like that." Colt lied through his teeth. Maria seemed to believe him though. She had no idea about the things I had done. I had caused more death than a soldier. And I rarely offered a quick death. Burning alive, beating to death, torture. No one would face death quickly. My offer was a long and painful death, just like Evie and Tom had.<br>"Everyone takes rumours too seriously." She said. There was a moment of silence. Colt was gaining her trust in a way. I guess I saw what he was doing...I felt horrible...I knew what he wanted to do. What had I done? "How did you know Sophie anyway?" She asked. I had told her before but obviously she hadn't listened then.  
>"I met her when I lived in New York. She came to visit Jake." Colt said. For once he wasn't lying.<br>"Jake Kopaka? Wow you have friends in high places." She said smiling a bit.  
>"Dead friends in high places." Colt said. Maria's face turned dark.<br>"I hope Sophie isn't." I hoped so too. Truth was that she had made quite the impression. That and she was the one person that knew about Jake's plan, I had to know what that was and if she was alive she was going to tell me.  
>"Sadly she is." Trust me...I was just as surprised when he said that as Maria was. He had no idea if she was dead. Of course since no one did...what did it matter.<br>"What?" Maria looked at Colt with raging fire in her eyes.  
>"She died. Just like Jake. He wasn't as tough as people made him sound. He begged for death after a while." I hated Colt for how he spoke about Jake. He was the last true friend we had and now he acted like he killed him. "He couldn't handle the pain."<br>"You're lying." She tried to convince herself. He was lying, but obviously she didn't know that.  
>"Sophie was tough to find...I had no idea where she lived or whatever. Once I found her though.." Colt didn't say anything yet. He just smiled. An evil sadistic smile. "The little bitch even cried...will you cry?" He said.<br>"GET AWAY FROM HER ANGEL!" Luke yelled. Colt hadn't noticed him yet, but now he looked right at him with the same smile.  
>"Ah Luke...perfect timing." Colt moved lighting quick. He hit Maria in the face and grabbed her by the neck. He reached for the dagger he had in his pocket (don't ask me how he kept getting daggers.)<br>"Luke!" Maria screamed. She was scared as anyone would be in this situation. Colt had exactly what he wanted. Luke couldn't do anything.  
>"Come on Luke. Save her!" Luke stood there not knowing what to do. If he moved Colt would kill her, I think all four of us knew that. But if he did nothing he would probably kill her too. Colt liked this. The psychological games. Making someone make impossible choices or use everything he knew about you against you. Eventually...Luke got lucky. Maria drove her elbow straight into Colt's ribs. Of course Colt didn't really like that. He didn't care about his hostage any more. He took the dagger and stabbed Maria in the side. She fell down in pain. Blood gushing from the wound.<br>"Maria!" Luke was furious. He didn't waste a single second. He charged straight towards Colt. Colt reached for Shadow-edge but wasn't fast enough. His fingers just reached the hilt when Luke's blade pierced through his shoulder. (What was it with people stabbing me in the shoulder?) Colt felt the shock of pain go through him. He screamed for a second. He fell down onto the ground and actually expected Luke to finish him off. But he didn't. He left the sword and got to Maria as fast as he could. "Maria, Maria! Talk to me!" Tears appeared in his eyes.  
>"Look at the brave little son of Hephaestus." Colt said. "Couldn't save his sister, couldn't save Evie...and now he can't save his girl." Colt laughed. "Truly you're the lousiest hero that ever lived."<br>"SHUT UP!" Luke screamed. "Someone get some bloody ambrosia and nectar!" There were more people there now. Amazed demigod looking at the blood bath. No one made a single noise. A son of Apollo ran towards the infirmary as fast as he could.  
>"Now that's no talk for a proper Englishman." Colt said laughing. He didn't even seem to be bothered by the wound. He was still laying on the ground but more because he was too lazy to get up than because he was in so much pain.<br>"Shut up Angel or I'll kill you." Luke claimed.  
>"Don't make promises you can't keep Luke." Colt didn't expect Luke to do what he did. He left Maria's side for a second to get up and kick Colt in the face...Colt shut up after that, as he was busy with the passing out.<p>

The dream I had was dark. I saw two teenagers in what seemed to be nothingness. I didn't know if I couldn't dream the surroundings or if they actually were surrounded by the thick black shadows. One of the two was a boy who seemed a little older than me. He had short brown hair and stood straight and powerful. He was muscular but smaller than the other one. He had a straight face but a determination in his eyes that is rare. The other one seemed in his late teens...but the way he made me feel...he seemed much older. He had pure black hair and pale skin. He was skinny as if he had been starving himself to death for months. He wore a Tuxedo and had a cane in his left hand. He was someone you would fear, hate and stay away from. By far the scariest about him though...were his eyes. Piercing bloodthirsty red eyes. When he looked at you...you knew that he was more powerful than you. He knew everything about you and if you looked into those eyes...you became the ant you were in his presence.  
>"My lord..." The boy spoke.<br>"What?" The guy in the Tux snared. The boy bowed down and looked down to the ground.  
>"I know that he's you're son...but do you really think that we should bring him into this. He was at camp for a while...do you really think he will betray them all?" He didn't seem scared, even though the mystery man was his master. It seemed as every human emotion had been pulled away from him.<br>"He's essential. I know you don't really like him...but you know what...I don't care." He said. "My son is the one that will bring camp crumbling down. But he can't go back into camp, but you can. You will be our eyes and ears...I'll contact you when needed."

It was me who woke up in a cage. I didn't just wake up in a cage, I woke up without remembering what Colt did. The last thing I remembered was talking to Luke in the woods. The cage wasn't too small. It seemed more like a locked off supply room that was now being used as a cage. There were steel bars around it and the door had a pretty much unbreakable lock. It was probably constructed by Hephy kids. The room looked like a basement. There was a stairway going up to a closed door. I had been locked up for a reason I didn't know. I had a mattress laying on the floor, I sat down waiting for someone to come through the door. The dream worried me. Who was the man in the Tuxedo? Who was the boy? I hadn't seen him around camp yet...maybe he hadn't arrived yet. Was that conversation happening as I slept? Was it past, present or future? I had no idea. What I did know...that this guy's son would be bad. The guy looked young to have a son...but I already suspected that he wasn't actually in his late teens. I didn't have much time to wonder about those things. The door opened, and Luke came walking through, he wasn't alone though. Next to him was the boy from my dream. His face just as straight with the same determined eyes.  
>"You're lucky Angel." Luke said. "She'll make it...and you're shoulder wound has been taken care of as you may have noticed." I looked at my shoulder, there was a hole in my jumper...but no wound to be found. I had no idea what Luke was talking about. "We're still trying to decide what to do with you though." Luke had an intense hate in his voice. I had no idea what was going on. I figured they were sure that I killed Evie and Tom. But what she was he talking about. Evie was dead...who else did I hurt? I had a lot of questions...but one was more important than any.<br>"Who's he?" I asked. I knew I should have reacted to Luke properly but this was more important to me.  
>"He's..." Luke was cut off.<br>"I can speak for myself Luke." He said. "I'm Maximus Meridius. I just arrived. I agreed with Luke to help take care of you while you're hear. You need food and water after all." He said. Maximus Meridius. The spy of the unknown guy in the Tuxedo.  
>"I have questions Luke, and I trust you have some too. But I won't say a thing with him here." I said. Even though I was talking to Luke I looked straight at Maximus. His determined eyes met mine, I was sure he didn't like me very much...and I really didn't like him. But hell...if he was in on a plan to destroy camp half-blood...the camps own serial killer would probably seem like a good ally.<br>"Look Angel...you're going to be talking to him a lot over you're time here. And anyway you're in no place for demands." Luke said. My eyes moved, now I looked at Luke again.  
>"You want to know something Luke. You said about taking care of me...if you were here for anything else than answers you would have brought me something to munch on." I said.<br>"Max...?"  
>"Yeah...it's cool." Maximus said. He walked away, before he went through the door...he gave me one last glare, and a sadistic little smile. Once he was gone I lost the intense look and stared at Luke with questioning eyes.<br>"What the hell happened?" I asked hysterically. I didn't trust Maximus for obvious reasons...but now that it was just me and Luke I felt safer. I had to know what went on. Luke had seemed pretty pissed when I last saw him but I couldn't remember a thing after what happened after he left.  
>"What do you mean? Are you trying to act as if you have amnesia again. Don't take me for a fool Angel." It was logical that Luke would think that. I had been giving him extremely little reason for trust lately.<br>"Look man I have absolutely no idea what happened. The last thing I remember is when we talked in the woods." It wasn't a lie although Luke suspected it to be.  
>"You want to know what happened? You tried to kill my girlfriend!" I truly didn't see that coming. When he said it though. Flashed came back to me. Holding Maria as he hostage, stabbing her and getting kicked in the face by Luke. I didn't remember the things that were said or how I got there...what went through my head. It was like...it wasn't me. I knew what it was...Colt...he had done this. "And now you're acting like you don't even remember. You killed Tom, you killed Evie and you tried to kill Maria. You deserve to die just like they did. But we can't all be psycho killers can we?"<br>"Luke...I really don't remember...I don't. But Colt does." So I explained. Everything that I knew anyway. I didn't really understand much of it. I told him about the dreams I had about Colt. I didn't tell him about my dream about Maximus. I wanted to talk to him before accusing him of anything. Someone like that...had signs no matter how good of a liar you are. I needed to know if he really was the spy...or if it was just some freak dream.  
>"So you have what? Split personality disorder?" Luke asked.<br>"I guess. But it wasn't me who did these things...not really anyway."  
>"Angel...I believe you. I saw you back there...it wasn't the same. Those bloodthirsty eyes, the way you spoke. It wasn't like you. I understand that it wasn't you. But you have to understand that I can't let you out. You're dangerous." Luke started moving towards the door. He didn't look at me, it was tough on him to do this now that he realized what was what.<br>"Luke! You can't do this! Don't keep me in here man!" I tried. He didn't even look back.  
>"Maximus will bring you something to eat soon." He walked up the steps.<br>"Luke!" And out of the door.


	13. Caged

Chapter 13: Caged

The days in solitary confinement (as I started calling it) were long. Someone came to bring me food three times a day. They would walk in with a tray of food and a bottle of water and soda, then they would tranquillize me with a dart and open the door and put the food in. Once I woke whoever fed me was long gone. There were three people who all had their own shift. Grace came in the mornings, she said that she knew about the split personality thing and that she didn't mind seeing me if it was the nice me. Lunch was brought in by Luke and dinner was done by Maximus. Luke usually didn't tranquillize me, he said he could see if it was me. Maximus on the other hand enjoyed shooting darts into me. He usually shot two or three while I easily went down after one. Sometimes I talked with one of them. Usually I didn't want to talk to Maximus. He tried to start conversations but I just asked him to tranquillize me and leave. I knew it was the guy. Maximus was spying for someone. To Luke and Grace I talked down. One time me and Grace talked so long that Luke came in to bring me lunch. I guess even though I was in the cage. I started seeing Luke and Grace as friends again, and I believed that worked both ways.

"So how have the Lakers been doing?" I asked Luke. The L.A Lakers were my favourite basketball team. I was from Los Angeles after all.  
>"They lost against the Suns last Saturday. They're playing the Kings Friday." Luke replied. I asked him to keep up with the news for me. I wanted to have some connection to the world outside my cage, and outside camp.<br>"If they lose that I'm giving up on them." I said while taking a zip from my coke.  
>"Good on you." He said laughing a bit. We sat in silence for a bit. It was still awkward sometimes. I had started to remember what happened that day a bit more. I remembered some of the things Colt had said to Maria, about Jake and Sophie. And what he had said to me before I let him take over. I wasn't going to tell Luke that I let him in. But I carried the guilt that even though Colt tried to kill them it was my fault. "Look man, we've been all right the last two weeks. Maria still wants to rip your guts out, she would have if it had left a scar. But I consider you my friend." He said. I wondered where we was getting to. "But I want you to know. That it's tough for me. Talking to you, cracking jokes and all without remembering the way you...Colt acted that day."<br>It was harsh to hear that. Luke was pretty much my only friend around right now. And he just told me that. "I know man. I wish I could change it. I'm sorry for what happened."  
>"Don't be. It's hard for me to see you two as separate people but I do know that you are. I don't blame you for any of his actions." Luke said.<br>"Thanks man...I appreciate that." I got up from the mattress and hoped around. "Now come on, hit me I'm starving."  
>"Never mind man I don't need to tranq you." He said.<br>"As if you don't want to shoot me." I said with a smile on my face.  
>"True." He laughed as he lifted the tranquillizing gun. He shot a single dart in my upper arm. It turned out that that worked quickest and the least painful. I dropped myself on the mattress and closed my eyes. I heard the lock open and Luke put the tray down. I heard the door lock again just before I dozed off.<p>

I usually asked for books and such to read. They gave me a wooden sword so I could at least train a bit. I tried to stay in shape even though I was in a cage. I did sit ups and push ups to make myself stronger. After a while...I didn't even mind being in that cage. That's when Colt came back. It was after my after noon nap that he took over. To me it was like I was still asleep. While he was right awake. He just sat there, eyes pointed straight at the door. He was waiting for Maximus. I refused to talk to him, but Colt was looking forward to it. A spy here to destroy camp and a psycho murderer. They seemed to be the perfect match. Colt waited patiently, it was a kind of patience I didn't have. I would get bored and try to do something...Colt just sat there. It was like every trait I had, he didn't have and vice versa. When Maximus came in, a smile appeared on Colt's face.  
>"Happy about something Angel?" Maximus asked at a rather nasty tone.<br>"Angel isn't available right now...you can leave a message but I doubt he'll get it." Now a smile appeared on Maximus' face.  
>"You're Colt. Good to finally meet you." Apparently the difference between Colt and I was pretty major. When Colt acted like himself anyway. Maximus and I never really talked and this was the first time he met Colt but he knew it wasn't me. He would have known even if Colt hadn't made that comment.<br>"Personally I'm rather disappointed in you. You've been here for a few weeks and camp is still here." I would have expected Colt felt like Maximus and him were on the same side. If Maximus worked for someone like the guy in the tux he probably had a pretty good feel for death and destruction.  
>"All in good time." Maximus didn't seem very happy with Colt. He probably didn't expect Colt to be such a right bastard. Colt had little to no respect for anyone. Much like me Maximus had probably expected that Colt would feel they were on the same side. So many people like him didn't understand that Colt wasn't on anyone's side. He would kill you without thinking twice about it. It didn't matter if you were his ally, his enemy or a random stranger Colt didn't care about you. He only took care of himself. "So do you want me to pop the cage now?" Maximus asked.<br>"Yeah genius, let the killer loose, it won't make you suspicious at all. Seriously you're an idiot." Colt didn't like Maximus. We both had the same dream of course, and instead of seeing Maximus' master as a threat, he saw him as the one worth speaking to. Maximus was just the worthless middle man.  
>"I can also leave you in here to rot Colt. You'll never get out without my help." Maximus lost his temper. Colt had pretty much guessed that Maximus' master wanted something with him. Else Maximus would have never volunteered to feed me and him and keep doing it for so long. There was some kind of plan...and Colt wanted to be part of it. Maximus left for the door but Colt's words stopped him.<br>"Come on Maximus. I might be in a cage but at least I'm not someone's little bitch." Colt wasn't a big fan. He seemed like a madman but there was a lot of philosophy in that brain of his. Survival of the fittest was definitely one of the things he believed in. And the fittest didn't mean the strong, well not just the strong. Colt knew there were people he couldn't beat, those he would outsmart. Those he couldn't outsmart he would defeat. And if somewhere along the line there was someone that was stronger and smarter than him. He wasn't fit enough.  
>"You act like you're so tough. But one straight encounter and here you are. You killed newbies and little girls in the woods but one actual fight and you get beat up. I've been through wars and have done things you can't even imagine. I'll leave you here for another night, you'll know that you can't escape on your own by then." Maximus and Colt were both arrogant and in some way I believed they both deserved to be. I knew Colt had been through shit, and he wouldn't admit it but it effected his entire existence. The anger that created him had always been part of me. It wasn't all that noticeable when I was six years old but it would have. The violent acts I was capable of in the orphanage were not because I had to, I wanted to. But the killing, the sadism I was pushed into doing that. If I had a less violent life, Colt wouldn't be as extreme as he was.<br>"Don't bother...I'll be out before noon." Maximus laughed at Colt. Sadly it was true. I've said before, Colt was very resourceful.  
>"You are one arrogant son of a bitch. I'll see you tomorrow." Maximus said walking up the stairs. He didn't even give Colt his food.<br>"You certainly will slave boy."

Colt waited all night, he didn't sleep a wink. I never figured out if he was mentally preparing to escape or thinking of a way to escape. It didn't matter. While night turned into day Colt waited. Just sitting there on the mattress with a smile on his face. His escape was near. And he was eager to be in the fresh air again. Most of all he was looking forward to meeting Maximus' puppeteer. So he waited.  
>"Hey Angel." Grace smiled. "You didn't sleep again? Seriously you must be a Nyx kid, you rarely sleep." She said. She was carrying a tray with a sandwich, a bottle of coke and one cup of coffee. I liked coffee in the morning. Grace never drank it as she said it made her extremely hyper. Colt was more of the cigarette smoker. Whenever he woke up he was dying for a cigarette. Of course none of these bloody demigod's had any cigs. It wasn't allowed at camp and most of them probably didn't smoke outside of camp either.<br>"Hey Grace." Colt faked a smile. If he wasn't such a great actor he wouldn't be half as dangerous. "Maybe I am." He said. "Anyway I simply wasn't tired. I've been like that ever since I was a kid. By the way what date is it?"  
>"It's the eleventh I believe." Grace answered. Wow...I had been in the cage a long time. I stopped counting the days after a while. It seemed pointless.<br>"Only three days then. I hope I'll be out of here then."  
>"What's in three days?" Grace asked with curious eyes. Neither me nor Colt had either said anything about our birthday but it was getting close now. The big sixteen. If I had a normal life I would have hoped for a car...it didn't even have to be good, just something to drive around in. But my life wasn't normal...instead I would be celebrating my birthday in a cage, at least that's what I feared.<br>"My birthday. July fourteenth." I could hardly believe I was already that old. There were many days in my life that I wasn't sure I'd live to see the next morning. But now I was nearly sixteen, it felt weird but good.  
>"Wow...I didn't know that."<br>"It doesn't matter."  
>"No it does...mostly because I'm not sure we can let you out before that. The three of us have been trying to find any cases like yours in history and we can't find a single one. Before we know how to deal with Colt we can't let you out." Grace didn't even notice herself...but she came closer and closer to the cage. Until she was just in arms reach. Colt was quick as always. He grabbed her by the neck, pulled her in and locked her neck between his right arm and the cage. He pulled with his arm and the more he pulled the less air she had.<br>"You have the key?" He said. She tried to speak but she couldn't, she couldn't nod her head either...unlucky. "I'll take the sound of choking as a yes." Colt said. He let go of her neck and grabbed her head. He pulled the back of her head straight into the steel bars. She collapsed to the ground with blood coming from her head. "That must have hurt." Could reached his arm between the bars and into Grace's pockets...the keys were just there. They made it way too easy. The door opened with one turn of the key. He wondered if the door into...wherever was locked. He was about to find out. Up the stairs he went, towards the door. It wasn't locked. The door led to the forge. Colt didn't see that one coming. Luke was right there of course. Colt didn't actually want to fight him right now. He had more important business.  
>"Go back now Colt...or whatever your name is." Luke said grabbing the nearest possible weapon, in this case a hammer. Colt had already seen his weapon...a screwdriver, brought him back to the old days.<br>"It's just me Luke. I'm sick of that cage..." Colt said.  
>"Bullshit you are. You're not Angel I'm not stupid."<br>"One of those statements is a lie." Colt said. Luke charged at him with the hammer. This time Colt was prepared. He stepped aside and Luke missed him. Colt grabbed Luke's normal hand, his other being bronze, and put it down on the workbench beside them. With his other hand he grabbed the screwdriver and stuck it in Luke's hand. He screamed in pain. "Sorry Luke...but I don't have time to play now." Colt would love to finish Luke off now but he wanted him to die slowly and painfully and he didn't have time for that now. "I might pay Maria a quick visit though. Like a late hospital visit." He wasn't going to...but that didn't mean Luke didn't believe he would.  
>"If you hurt her...!"<br>"You'll kill me blablabla. Wait till they drop then try that line again." And like that he was gone. Out of the cage, out of anyone's control. And towards the mystery man in the Tuxedo.


	14. The Meeting

Chapter 14: The Meeting

Colt didn't waste time, he was too excited to meet the master of puppets. I didn't know what to expect, I don't think Colt did either. Usually he was in control of every situation, now he wasn't. I always figured that that's why he wanted to get to him so fast. He moved through camp unseen. Everyone knew his face and everyone knew that he wasn't supposed to be walking around camp. The wind felt cool in his face. Colt was happy to be outside, if it was me I would have been happy. Not about the way we got out…but being out hell yeah. I had tried to stay strong and ignore the fact that they had locked me up. But I was in a cage and now Colt got me out. I didn't know if I should thank him or hate him. I didn't mind being out of the cage. For some reason I had accepted it but freedom was a valuable thing. I hated the way Colt broke out though. I hated to see Grace hurt. She was a friend but it was also because she was so innocent. She didn't know the kind of pain I had been through and I would die a happy man if she never had to.

Colt found Maximus soon. He was standing against some tree with a dead body next to him. The body had one cut right through the jugular vein. It was a quick and easy kill. Colt, being the master of torture and lasting kills…was unimpressed.  
>"I didn't know you were such an amateur Maxi." Colt mocked. "A quick and easy kill, what don't you have the guts to make it last?"<br>"Not all of us enjoy this as much as you do Colt."  
>"Whine whine whine." Colt said. He wasn't impressed by Maximus at all. "You truly are a mere puppet."<br>"Call me what you wish Colt. You're just a sick little psychopath with no purpose in this world. In the end you'll go straight to the fields just like every murderous scum bag out there in the mortal world. While I'll be something much more than that."  
>"Sorry mate, you've been sorely misled. The puppet never gets anything but a stab in the back once the master takes over the world. Did you never see the movies?"<br>"I don't care about the movies." Colt wasn't impressed…but Maximus scared the shit out of me. He seemed without emotion or care about anyone including himself. "They're lies and stupid."  
>"Lies indeed. In the movies the good guy always wins…you and I both know that the good guy doesn't really win…sometimes they survive, but they never win." Colt smiled wickedly.<br>"Truly…that smile isn't fooling anyone boy. I can't believe he even has an interest in you. You're nothing but a freak that should be kept in a cage."  
>"And you're a useless puppet, go figure." I figured Max was sick of the pointless talk. He drew his sword and was ready for an attack.<br>"Come on then Colt. Let's do this. I can't be bothered to wait for him while you talk your nonsense. I might as well kill you right now and show you why I'm more than a puppet, but you're nothing more than a fool with a too big ego." Colt drew Shadow-edge. The only thing that was needed for the fight to kick off was someone attacking…neither of them got the chance.  
>"I see you two have acquainted with each other." A man said. It was him…no doubt. He wore casual clothes now, A black shirt with dark blue jeans and pure black trainers. His face looked a little older too, but with the same bloodthirsty red eyes.<br>"My lord." Maximus said as he bowed down.  
>"Michael…it's good to finally meet you." The man ignored Maximus. He didn't care about his slave obviously. Yet he seemed to have an interest in Colt and I. That…and he still called us Michael…a name we hadn't gone by in a while now.<br>"You know my old name…but I still don't know yours."  
>"Phthonos." The god smiled. Phthonos, a minor god. He was quite a sight. He looked like a teenager but he was probably older than all the demigods at camp combined. Standing near him made everything feel different. He changed the way you feel. Most gods did that and given Phthonos was a god of an emotion, that emotion became extremely powerful near Phthonos.<br>"God of Jealousy, Malice and ill-will. Can't say I heard much about you."  
>"Ask your friend Luke about Eric and trust me he'll tell you some interesting stories.<br>"My lord." Maximus spoke. "I would like to ask why you wanted to talk to him. He's obviously mad…he lacks the finesse to help us."  
>"Shut it Maximus." Phthonos said calmly but still, you wanted to do what he said. It didn't matter if he acted angry or not…you were afraid of the repercussions if you denied his wishes. "You've made quite some enemies Michael. Maximus right here, half of camp half-blood…and of course there's a few gods on Olympus that would love to see Hades claim you. Hades himself isn't too fond of you. You give him too much paperwork…he's grown so lazy over the years." Phthonos seemed…bored. As if he wanted some excitement. And my guess was that he didn't think a roller coasters was very exciting. He was probably waiting for some extreme chaos to happen…and Colt would help him get it.<br>"Enough of the pointless talk Phthonos…what is it you want." Even towards someone far more powerful than himself Colt didn't show any respect. But Phthonos needed him, so he could afford it.  
>"It's quite simple Michael. There is something I desire but it's locked away. Recently I thought I had acquired the key but it's a copy. There are others with these kinds of copies."<br>"And you want me to get them." Colt said. It was an easy guess.  
>"Yes indeed. I would do it myself but the people holding them are mortal. I can't hurt them unless they attack me." It was one of the most ancient rules. A god couldn't harm a mortal being unless it was in defence. "You and Maximus can And someone else." Phthonos said. "You might remember him, he did try to kill you." There was only one person who went through Colt's head. The only person Phthonos could be describing.<br>"Samael." Colt said. The person Colt and I truly hated. Whether it was Colt or me in control. The next time we met Samael we would die, or he would. "So you were the one he talked about. The man with the plan."  
>"Indeed." Phthonos said.<br>"So who do I kill?" Colt didn't need persuasion to do this task. A god on his side, a form of competition against Samael and being able to kill people, his kind of party.  
>"You're not killing anybody!" A fourth voice spoke. A girl with black hair and dark eyes popped out of the bushes. Jeni Carter, daughter of Hades. Her eyes were pointed straight at Colt, so did the point of the arrow she was holding.<br>"Angel? I should have known it was you. Jake told me about you, why didn't I see?"  
>"What was that love?" Colt asked. Everyone was surprised with that. "What exactly did titan boy tell you about me?"<br>"That you're a sick killer, and that I had to send you to my father."  
>"When did he tell you that? He's been dead for months." Phthonos asked. He seemed to be as surprised as Colt was even though he was pleasantly surprised. He wore a smile on his face, this was interesting to him.<br>"He was also the son of Prometheus." The girl had a point. Again though this proved that Jake saw much more than just the near future.  
>"Oh really, so very interesting. Either way girl…you have no involvement in this." Phthonos said. This girl didn't interest him one bit.<br>"Want me to deal with her?" Maximus spoke. He had been quiet for a while. I wondered if he had always been the quiet type or if he was made this way. Colt wondered when you would get the first chance to kill him.  
>"Maxi you couldn't deal with someone who was already dying. Don't even both trying." Colt drew his sword he hadn't even gotten ready to lunge before Jeni let go of her arrow. I don't know if it was luck, skill or destiny that made Colt fast enough to dodge the arrow speeding towards him. The arrow missed him by a hair and hit Phthonos right in the shoulder. Phthonos looked at the arrow. He didn't seem very impressed. That's when he looked up at Jeni, his blood thirsty eyes looked straight at her while his lips curled into a smile. She had just gave him permission to do anything he wanted to her. Jeni just allowed Phthonos to hurt her in any way he chose. Nd Phthonos had some really good ways to hurt someone.<br>"Don't worry about this one you two. She's mine." She would have screamed if she still had a tongue. He didn't even touch her. With a wave of his hand he stripped off a piece of her skin. She was being skinned alive limb by limb. Where the skin had been pulled off Jeni bled. Colt watched her being tormented with pleasure while Maximus looked at her with an emotionless stare. Once all the skin was ripped from her body she bled to death. Another horrible death, I wondered how many more camp half-blood could take. "Where were we again?"

I woke up cold and alone in the woods. Colt probably didn't want to fall asleep but had anyway. He was still human…physically anyway. He had to sleep, eat, drink. He had…normal thoughts. At least I think he did. I always wondered if he was truly insane. Having two personalities the mortals would have locked me up in a room with soft walls but were we truly insane. I always imagined the insane to be incapable of rational thoughts. I knew I could be rational. And I believed that it was sadism, not insanity, that drove Colt to do the things he did. He was a true socio-path though. Even if he didn't want to kill he couldn't possibly cope in a normal life. I knew that I could…I was the side of Michael that could and I would be able to now but Colt was just too…weird. If he wasn't capable of scaring anyone (mostly me) to death he would probably be branded the weird outsider within ten minutes. As my thoughts about Colt continued I wondered if this homicidal maniac act was a way to hide his insecurities. I remembered that Michael used to fight because he was good at it but also because it made him look strong and powerful even though he wasn't. Did Colt do the same? The more I thought about it the more I wondered if I knew more about him than I thought. Of course…what I knew of him didn't matter once I heard him speak in my head.  
>"Wakey wakey sunshine." He sounded as cruel and cold as ever. Every word he spoke made me doubt my theories. "They're coming…might want to run or hide. It doesn't really look good." I hadn't opened my eyes. I knew Colt had taken over. There was no wind in my cell. I was outside, and I wasn't the one that left. And since Colt had been out…I knew someone had died. "Don't be such a whiny bitch and open your eyes." I slowly pulled open my eye lids. The bright sun blinded me for a few seconds, once my eyes settled I saw her. She was more mutilated than any corpse I had ever seen. He skin didn't seem to be cut but ripped open everywhere. Parts of her body had been skinned, and guessing by the blood she was still alive while it happened. Skinning a dead body isn't half the bloody mess as skinning a live person. Her tongue and eyes were cut. A mockery that Colt usually used…of course I believed this was Colt's work. I didn't remember Phthonos, or Maximus being in the woods. I didn't remember the deal Colt made with the god of malice. But I saw Jeni Carter's dead body, and I chose for the most logical explanation.<br>"Angel what did you do?" It was Grace. I didn't remember what Colt had done to her. But when I saw the bandages on her head I could put two and two together.  
>"Do you know who that is?" Luke spoke. He was there too…of course. "Do you have anyone idea who her father is?" I knew the answer. And I understood why they were so shocked about it. After all her dad was one of the generally most disliked gods out there<br>"Hades."

Was I scared of the lord of the underworld? Not really. I didn't think he would come after me or hunt me down. I was more afraid of what horrible punishment he would think of for me after death. Probably the worst torture he could think of. After all I killed his daughter, or so I believed. I was in the cage again. I had gotten back in willingly. Again I remembered why I was in there. I was too dangerous to be left outside of it. Luke and Grace understood that it wasn't me that killed Jeni but it had gotten harder and harder for them to trust me. I tried to remember everything about that day. Nothing about it seemed to make sense. All I could get from the depths of my mind was a name of sorts. Phthonos. I wondered if it was the man in the tuxedo, and the more I wondered the more certain I got. It didn't really help though. I never heard of someone named Phthonos. I never really learned a lot of the Greek mythology. But I knew someone who did.  
>"Luke…who's Phthonos?" Luke had come down to give me my lunch. He seemed a bit more cheery than he did the day before. But when I said the name…his face turned grim. He knew the name…and he didn't like it.<br>"Where did you get that name?" Luke asked. He glared at me, flames of anger were burning in his eyes.  
>"It's the only thing I remember from yesterday. I tried to remember everything but the only thing I get is that name."<br>"Phthonos…" Luke stopped. Something was bothering him, he knew Phthonos. He had met him and it wasn't a nice meeting. "Phthonos is a god. A minor one but feared by those who know him. He's the god of malice, ill-will, jealousy." As Luke started talking…I started remembering. Colt met Phthonos in the woods. He appeared in his late teens, early twenties maybe. And his piercing red eyes. Also I remembered that Phthonos was a god…and that I knew that. Colt knew that. Why didn't I remember it while Colt did? "More so he's pretty much known as the boogeyman for demigods. Over the years he's killed a lot of mortals…and quite a few demigods. The last one was a friend of mine. Eric Shan, son of Zelus."  
>"There's something else, it's about Maximus." I told him about the dream I had. About this son of Phthonos that was talked about as if he was the bringer of apocalypse. And Maximus being Phthonos' servant. I still barely remembered what happened in the woods. Not what was said or what happened to Jeni exactly. But I was there, and so were Maximus and master.<br>"You saw this in a dream?" Luke asked me.  
>"Yeah. I know that sounds nuts but…"<br>"You're demigod, dreaming about things that are true isn't nuts at all. We do it all the time. We see the past, present or future in our dreams. Usually it's not a nice dream, and even more often it is of extreme importance."  
>"So you believe me?" Yes…I was truly amazed that he did.<br>"I do…I never really trusted Maximus. That's exactly why I wanted to keep an eye on him."  
>"You seemed like such good buddies."<br>"What you thought Colt was the only one who knows how to act? He got a little too involved in the important stuff happening. Especially you."  
>"Luke…I'm unclaimed…do you think?"<br>"That you're Phthonos' son? It's possible. I don't know any sons of Phthonos' so it is possible that it's you."  
>"Great." I said sarcastically. It seemed to fit. Sadly it fitted. Phthonos and Colt seemed like the same person only god and demigod. But son of Phthonos...that's not a title I would ever use with pride.<br>"Anyway. I should let you out of that cage." Luke said.  
>"Why?"<br>"You don't want to be there when we get a hold of Maximus?" After Luke spoke my lips curled into a cheeky smile.  
>"I'd love to."<p> 


	15. Interrogation

Chapter 15: Interrogation

The tough part wasn't Maximus in my cage (locking someone up is so easy when you have a tranquillizer), it was making him talk once he was in there. For the first hour he just sat there without even looking at Luke or me. I started to wonder if he was even conscious. He had his eyes wide open but barely moved. He blinked and breathed, that was it. He probably knew that we knew. Why else would he be in a cage? I still couldn't remember much. A few flashes had popped up in my head but there wasn't much to go on. Maximus knew what happened though. He could fill in the gaps and tell us what Phthonos was planning. He had to know, if anyone did it was him.  
>"What's Phthonos planning Max?" Luke asked again. Maximus didn't answer. "What happened between him and Colt yesterday...answer me for fuck sake!" We had been at this for a while and got nothing. I understood why Luke was getting annoyed. He wasn't the only one. Of course getting mad wasn't going to help much.<br>"Luke...I want to talk to him alone for a bit." I said. I wasn't sure if it was going to work...but it was worth a shot. Luke didn't like it. I wasn't sure if he didn't trust me or if he wanted to be the first to know what Maximus said not the second. Eventually though he nodded in agreement. I knew why, he knew why, Max didn't. Luke and I were the only ones that knew about the little bit of extra security. Luke had built in a camera and a microphone pointed directly at the cage. Originally I asked Luke to install them in case Colt came out again. Last time Luke got surprised, next time I wanted to be sure he wouldn't be. If Maximus wanted to talk without Luke there, fine. But Luke would still see and hear. Luke left the room and I took a seat in the chair that was set up in front of the cage.  
>"So what happened Max?" I asked him. He pulled his eyes away from the floor and straight towards me.<br>"You know that just as well as I do." He said. His eyes moved back, he stared at the exact same spot on the floor. There was nothing there. No crack or piece of rock or anything. Just the same grey concrete as there was in the rest of the armoury basement.  
>"I don't remember a thing. I can't remember what Colt does."<br>"And half of the time Phthonos won't let me remember what I do. We have more in common than you thought."  
>"Are you seriously trying to tell me that you don't remember anything of it?"<br>"Yup."  
>"Bullshit."<br>"Believe what you will Angel, either way you won't get anything out of me."  
>"I can get it out of you. I'm not Colt...but I have his knowledge." I knew I couldn't torture him. I didn't have the heart for it.<br>"Come on Angel, we both know you couldn't hurt a fly unless it hurts one of your friends."  
>"You don't know anything about me."<br>"I know that someone burned down the building your girlfriend was in, I know what you did to the people that did it. I know a friend of yours got killed in a shoot out in an LA convenience store. That you blew up five people in a warehouse and started a fire in a San Francisco church. Killing seven priests and a small boy...okay just the seven priests." Max said with a grin. He had a sense of humour I'd give him that. I didn't understand how Maximus could know so much about me. There were very few people I told about my past and he wasn't one of them. Luke didn't even know this much.  
>"Who told you these things?"<br>"Let's just say that the big players in town have been keeping their eyes on you for a while Angel. I don't know how but you're important in some way. I don't know how much Phthonos knows about your destiny, that's the sort of stuff he won't let me remember or doesn't tell me at all. Of course there is someone who's memory hasn't been erased." Of course I wondered what he meant, but that wasn't the problem at hand. I needed to know about Phthonos and Colt. Whatever Maximus babbled about didn't matter.  
>"There was someone else there? Other than Phthonos and Colt?" Of course I should have known who Maximus was talking about. But I guess I didn't even want to consider that option.<br>"No idiot...I'm talking about Colt. He remembers everything. Phthonos has some sort of man crush on your bad boy side."  
>"You talk like that about your master?" I asked. I always thought that the minion was afraid of the master more than he respected him. It was the main difference between a tyrant and a leader. A leader was followed by people that respected him, a tyrant was followed by people that feared him.<br>"It doesn't matter what I say about him. Once he has no more use of me he'll kill me anyway. Whether I follow him blindly like a good little minion or if I call him names, I'll die by his hands eventually." I wonder if this was what he believed or if it was what he knew. With him I always asked myself that question. He had some sort of cool serenity about him that made it impossible to predict him or know what was going around in his head. I had never seen him smile either (not a 'I'm happy' smile anyway)...I wondered if he remembered how to.  
>"Am I...his son?"<br>"I don't know."  
>"You're lying. You said...you said to him that you weren't sure if he should bring his son in. You know who it is...am I his son!" He looked at me again, he hadn't moved his head and view from the concrete since the beginning of the conversation. I don't know why he stopped lying, why he decided to stop messing with me. I just know that his determination broke, and mine didn't.<br>"No...you're not. But you know him. Does the name Samael ring a bell?"  
>"Samael...is his son." Now it made sense. Samael...he couldn't come to camp acting normally like Maximus could. I could uncover him easily. But one thing bothered me. "You said that Samael had been at camp, even though he's never been here before." Again he looked at me, and again I was sure that he wasn't lying.<br>"I can't remember. Phthonos let's me know things and then erases them when it becomes dangerous. He doesn't want anything leaked."  
>"So you have no memory of what he exactly wants with Samael and me?"<br>"Nothing at all." The look in his eyes spoke his thoughts.  
>"But you know how to find out."<br>"Well...sort of. I know who knows, I just highly doubt that he'll tell us."  
>"You seriously want to have a friendly chat with Colt about Phthonos' plans?"<br>"Like I said it's a long shot."  
>"It's barely a shot at all." I guess I knew Maximus was right. If I wanted to find out what happened Colt was the only person to talk to. But it was dangerous. A: I didn't want Colt to be out at all and B: It meant we would have to put Maximus somewhere else. Neither of them I liked. "I'll think about it." I started to walk away, up the stairs towards Luke. He would know what to do.<br>"You know, I don't know what Phthonos wants. But he hasn't found it yet. He's been growing impatient lately. He´s looking for something and he needs it soon." I stopped. Why was Phthonos so on edge? He wouldn't become sloppy unless there was someone or something that could threaten him. Which meant that either something worse was coming and Phthonos wanted to be preprepared. Or there was a flaw in his plan that he couldn't get around. One weak point that we could exploit. I had to hope for the latter, which meant there was no time to lose.  
>"I'll do it."<p>

"Are you sure about this Angel?" Luke asked me as I entered the cage. He hadn't closed the door yet, giving me one last chance to change my mind. He didn't like the plan from the start. One because he was afraid if I couldn't retake control after giving it to Colt, and because he didn't really want to meet Colt again. I knew that much. Their last two meetings hadn't been much fun. This time Colt was behind bars but that made little to no difference. He was just as dangerous if he couldn't physically get to you.  
>"You can't change my mind Luke. Just make sure that he doesn't get to you. You know what he's like."<br>"Yeah...yeah I do. I wish I didn't though. How can you expect that he'll talk?"  
>"I don't. But if he tells us anything at all...then it won't be for nothing."<br>"I guess." Luke doubted. I guess he was afraid he couldn't do it. Stand there and take Colt's insults while trying to fish for information. "Let's do this...how does it work?"  
>"I actually have no idea...usually I just fall asleep and when I wake up he's been out. But I think I can let him in."<br>"Go for it." Luke said. I don't think he was as sure about this as he looked. I was more determined than ever...this would have to work. I closed my eyes and tried to think of Colt. It wasn't easy to have nothing but him on my mind. It nearly made me sick. Other than that it felt like I was trying to make a telepathic phone call to my second personality. And at first the connection was bad. I wondered how he could speak to me while it was me that was conscious. I didn't even know when he was out. Now I had to make him conscious. So I put nothing on my mind but him...the things he did. I was calling him out so to speak. And eventually I felt myself slipping away...until it was Colt that was in the cage.  
>"Hello Luke." Colt said. For Luke the change had taken barely a second. Another reminder of how dangerous I was. One moment he could be talking to me the next Colt would be trying to kill him. It didn't make a good case for my freedom.<br>"Colt." Luke answered shortly.  
>"It's trying to civil, cute. How's the hand?" In a way it was impressive to see Colt go. His mind worked so much faster than mine. He had to have one talk with a person to know exactly how to hit them where it hurt. Of course Luke and Colt had more than one dealings in the past and Colt had been beaten by Luke in a way. So my guess was that Colt hated Luke as much as Luke hated Colt.<br>"It healed nicely." Luke didn't want to make small talk. But he knew that Colt wouldn't say a thing before insulting Luke anyway he could. And I think Luke knew what Colt would use next.  
>"Did Maria heal nicely? I think you told Angel she did. I bet that emotionally she's a lot worse. I mean her sister disappeared, she got attacked by a maniac and now you."<br>"What's that supposed to mean?"  
>"You really haven't noticed? All this...it's pulling you away from her. How much time have you spent with her lately? When you weren't busy with Angel, me or Maxi. And now that Phthonos is involved. Now you're on fire. After what he did to poor Eric. He told me that he remembered the look in your eyes when you saw his lifeless body. Or what was left of it anyway." Luke looked less focused than before. I didn't know what they knew, but it hurt Luke more than anything.<br>"What else did Phthonos tell you?"  
>"Wouldn't you love to know? I'll let you in on one thing. That wound I gave Maria didn't heal as nicely as you said. It's left a nasty scar hasn't it? Must hurt her self esteem." Colt had easily found Luke's weak spot. It wasn't all that hard to figure out.<br>"She's not as shallow as you think." And he was back. Strong and focused. He knew he couldn't let Colt get to him. But all of us knew that the things Colt was saying were pretty much like kicks straight to the private part.  
>"Isn't she? I mean she's with you...and she probably cares about you. But oh she enjoyed the stares. The boys talking about how fit she is. She loves it. I wonder how you deal with that. I mean come on. We're all teenagers here. Demigod or not every guy here has the same thing on their mind. And she is lovely isn't she. Pretty face and a nice body. But all of that doesn't matter to her any more. The stares aren't so sweet and even though you look past it the scar bothers her. And you know what? You haven't even noticed that it does. You've been too busy being camps personal hero to notice your own girlfriend. I wouldn't be surprised if she's walked up to one of the guys that was looking."<br>"She wouldn't..." Colt didn't let him finish.  
>"Or more than one."<br>"She's not some kind of slut!"  
>"She's a daughter of Aphrodite though? And well I think we all know that she's the skank of Olympus. There are more kids of Aphrodite than any other god. And only one or two are 100% related. Is Maria much like her mother?"<br>"SHUT UP!" Luke had completely lost it. Luke's weak spot was easy to exploit for Colt. And given she was a daughter of Aphrodite there were many things he could say without really knowing Maria. The situation was just too perfect and easy.  
>"Luke." Grace had come out of the door at the top of the stairs. She knew Colt was getting to him. She knew that she had to get Luke out of there or he would kill Colt right there and then. And killing Colt meant killing me. And for some reason I will never understand she couldn't let that happen.<br>"Grace." Colt smiled sadistically. "I haven't seen you in a while. I hope your head is not too sore. Are you coming in for a nice chat later? I would love to catch up." Grace looked at Colt with a destructive look.  
>"You're sick you know that? Do you seriously enjoy this?"<br>"I have to do something for entertainment. Which is why I'd like to have you here. I think we would have a smashing time." Colt looked at her with piercing eyes and his infamous grin. He kept the same look until both of them were out the door. Round one went to Colt.

Colt was calm, he remained in his cage with a dedicated mind. He was just waiting for the second person to enter. His second toy so to speak. He sat there on the bed not worrying about anything, someone would have to come and when that person did Colt would take any chance he could get. He was resourceful and if there was a way to escape he would take it. He had escaped last time, he didn't see a problem in doing it again. He waited for a few hours before Grace came down the stairs with a plate filled with food.

"Hello Grace." Colt said. He stood up straight with a confident smile on his face. He had a powerful look about him. If he wasn't mental he would probably be a great leader. He had the genius for it and no one would question his authority. Colt was someone to be impressed with but knowing the things he did for entertainment all that remained of that awe was disgust.

"I'm not here to talk Colt." Grace snapped. In bad situations she was tougher than Colt (and I) expected. She was tough but sweet. Only Colt was convinced she wouldn't stay tough very long. He figured it was a shield she put up for this situation. He could break through a shield with ease.

"Not? Is there nothing you want to know?" Colt asked her. He didn't know how to get to her, not yet. He just had to talk to her and think it through. Grace didn't seem like the toughest person to figure out. "You know...it wasn't me who knocked you out last time. It was Angel. He wanted out so badly, hurting you seemed the only way to do it." Colt said. Grace hadn't met Colt before, not really. When she did see him he acted like Angel the entire time. She couldn't tell the difference between them like Luke could.

"You're lying, that's all you ever do." Grace still kept her shield up but Colt wasn't giving up on this subject just yet. He knew this would get him somewhere. And if it didn't get him anywhere now it would break the trust Grace had for me. For Colt that was a worthy goal.

"Come on, there's an obvious difference between me and Angel. And he told you he was sick of that cage. He wanted out. He saw an opening and he took it. He didn't even care that he had to hurt you. Trust me I can know, I'm in his head most of the time." Colt was using me to hurt Grace. I wondered how he did it with such ease. Grace had been kind to me, so she had been kind to him. But now he just wanted to hurt her in any way he could.

"You're pathetic Colt. You're just an animal in a cage trying to manipulate us into fearing you." Grace stepped closer and closer to the cage. Colt couldn't believe she made the same mistake again. But Grace was watching her step she stopped when she was just far enough. Maybe if Colt moved his entire arm between the bars his fingertips would just touch her. "Well I'm not afraid of you." Grace said. "And given you're so fond of grabbing things on the other side of the bars." Grace put the plate on the ground and pushed it towards the bars with her foot. "bon appetit." Grace walked away proudly. Colt nor me had expected her to be this tough. In one way Colt liked it, on the other he decided that he would make her death very slow.

Colt played the waiting game once again. He didn't mind, someone would come eventually. The food Grace had left still stood in front of the cage. Colt would starve before lowering himself like that. He was very strong willed like that. He felt his stomach begging for food but he stared at the plate and denied himself the food that was there. I wondered if I could do that. I doubted it. Back in the day I could go without food for a while but the time I had spend at camp had spoiled me. I doubted I could still live like I did back then. Functioning without a decent meal for days, that wasn't for me any more. Of course Colt was proven right, someone came down. Someone new, someone unexpected.

"Well hello beautiful." Colt said to Maria. He was surprised that she would show up here. After all Colt wasn't her favourite person at camp and I think we all knew that he had partially been right about Maria's feelings concerning her confidence. After all if it had all been bull shit Luke wouldn't have gone berserk on Colt after he said something about it.

"I came here for one reason, Colt." She said the name with hate and spite. I was happy enough she didn't say my name like that. "What you said about Sophie...is it true?"

"Every word of it." Colt said sincerely. He was lying, and unlike last time this time Maria saw it.

"Don't bullshit me Colt. I heard the things you said about me. But you left one thing out about the daughters of Aphrodite. We can be total bitches." Maria said. Colt laughed. Two femme fatales right after each other, a good day.

"Okay, I'll play along. I know as much about Sophie as you do." The truth...from Colt? That was rare. "You seriously have to learn the difference between the truth and guys bragging to get you to...you know." Colt raised his eyebrows twice in rapid succession. A vile and disgusting gesture.

"They're right. You really are an animal." Maria said. So many seemed to tell him that, it got dull now.

"That would explain the cage." Colt said. "Although it's quite a wrong term when you think of it. An animal kills for survival...I don't. I think the correct term would be...homicidal socio-path. Not psychopath, not really one for the insanity ward. After all the definition of insanity is repeating the same action over and over and expect a different result. I kill over and over and expect horrible death. It hasn't failed yet." Colt said with a grin.

"See you Colt." Maria said as she walked up the stairs. She knew what she wanted to know, spending any more time with Colt was completely unnecessary.

"Stop by again." The door closed behind Maria. Again Colt was left to wait.

It would be hours before someone else entered the basement. Colt had many surprises that day. Maximus showing up didn't really shock him any more.  
>"Maxi! How's life? Still being treated as the treacherous bastard you are?" Maximus wasn't in a cage any more but he was still a spy. I doubted Luke would let him out of his sight for longer than a minute.<br>"They don't particularly trust me."  
>"Well you are camps latest spy what did you expect?"<br>"At least a fruit basket or something."  
>"What did you also think you'd get a cookie when you joined Phthonos?"<br>"Did you?"  
>"What makes you think I joined him." Maximus and Colt face to face with bars between them was interesting I suppose. It didn't take them a second to answer each other. Both were pretty much emotionless. Maximus wasn't as sadistic but neither of them showed any emotion.<br>"You did didn't you?" Colt laughed. I guess that me nor Colt were sure if Maximus was lying or not, Colt had made his conclusion about a second ago.  
>"You really don't remember?" Colt laughed some more. He thought it was great that Phthonos didn't allow Maximus to know anything about what his master was planning. "Well in that case I'll tell you the highlights. I was going to but than we good a visit from the Easter bunny and I thought given kids eggs was more fun than going around running errands for Phthonos. You know how it is. Kill this guy hunt down that guy it gets so boring."<br>"I can't remember what he's planning but even I realize that it's bad. You know and have not a single intention to stop it? He's probably planning to kill thousands."  
>"Not thousands Maxi...hundreds of thousands. And all of the half breed scum of course. They are disgusting truly. Well most of them."<br>"What with the exception of you?"  
>"Not at all. There's quite a few interesting demigods out there. But the true top dogs haven't been around in a while. Better to wipe them all out now than to wait till they get weak."<br>"You're lying."  
>"What if I am? You wouldn't know the difference would you? Are you disappointed that he doesn't let you in on the big plans? You've been his little bitch for a while now and then me and Samael come along and you aren't even allowed to remember the big plan. You jelly?"<br>"Hardly. I couldn't care less."  
>"Do I smell lies? Then again this gives you an opportunity doesn't it? Join the half-blood hill team. If they'll except you is a different story but it's worth a shot. You haven't belonged anywhere have you. Probably have no family, been resentful of your divine parent whoever he is. A definite he though."<br>"How would you know?"  
>"Cause obviously the person that has been most of a father figure in your life is Phthonos."<br>"He's not my father."  
>"Of course he isn't. If he was you may have actually meant something to him." For some reason Maximus seemed affected by this. Maybe Colt was right even though I could hardly believe that. I could never see Phthonos as a father figure...and the person that was most like a father to me was an orphanage doctor who knew a bit too much about torture.<br>"You're not going to tell us a thing are you?"  
>"Nothing that you want to know." Colt said. The first time he didn't lie or try to hurt anyone. He enjoyed torturing Maximus and Luke like this but this wasn't getting any of them anywhere. So he decided he might as well make it clear. "But hey...I'm nice...I'll let Angel come back."<br>"How will we know it's actually Angel."  
>"Because he won't remember this." I didn't remember a thing.<br>"How will you bring him back?" Colt yawned and stretched.  
>"I'm tired, let me sleep and it will be Angel waking up." Colt lay himself down on the mattress. Maximus walked up the stairs. Colt had been in the cage for barely a day and he had caused so much damage. That night Maximus was alone in the woods thinking about what Colt had said. And Luke didn't sleep a wink while Maria slept like a baby in his arms.<p> 


	16. It's Easier to Run

Chapter 16: It's easier to run

It was me that woke up the next morning. Colt had kept his word for once. I didn't remember a thing. I didn't remember talking to Maximus or Luke. I was awake when I heard someone enter the room. I could have gotten up and looked but I couldn't be asked. Heavy steps came down the stairs but it wasn't a heavy person. Male obviously, I heard that because of his footsteps and how the door closed. A girl's footsteps were lighter, less blunt. Pretty much everything a girl did was less blunt than the way a guy did the same thing. But which one of the guys was it?  
>"Did it work?" I was pretty sure that it was Luke. Who else could it be?<br>"Angel?" I opened my eyes and sat up straight.  
>"Did it work? Did Colt say anything at all?" Luke shook his head. I hoped that Colt had let something slip. But by Luke's expression I highly doubted that.<br>"Colt didn't say a thing of importance. He only got me so mad that Grace pulled me out of here."  
>"Were you the only one that talked to him?"I asked. I wondered if Luke let Grace try to get anything out of Colt. I hoped not. She had been through enough because of me.<br>"No, Grace was down here and so was Maria. Both against my wishes. By the way if you're starving blame Grace for that, she denied Colt his meal." I had to say I chuckled a bit.

"I can't say I blame her." I said still chuckling I heard Colt in my mind. He wasn't speaking clearly as usual. Just a name... "What About Maximus?"  
>"Maximus? They kept him in the basement of the big house. Just one person on guard. He helped before so I doubt he'll do anything."<br>"You were wrong he was here last night." I said.  
>"How do you know?"<br>"Colt told me now open this bloody cage!"

We spread out. Luke checked the cabins, Maria went past the coast line and Grace went past the armoury, amphitheatre and the arena. I took the woods. I needed to take the woods. If I knew Maximus at all that's where he was going to be. It took me an hour before I found him...but I was right. He had gotten a change of clothes...he was wearing all crappy camp half-blood clothes. Don't get me wrong they were...okay. But if you ever get the chance to pick anything over camp half-blood clothes, take it. He wasn't armed, not as far as I knew anyway. The only thing he had was a back pack. He was leaving camp, back to his master.  
>"You running away?" I asked him. He stopped, he hadn't noticed me yet. It was funny...I hadn't actually tried to be silent. It was like being quiet and unnoticed was part of my personality.<br>"Do I have a reason to stay?" He didn't look at me at all. I wondered if in some way...he had grown fond of camp. "I tried to help out, it didn't work. I'm useless to me and now that my cover is blown I am useless to him."  
>"Why are you going back to Phthonos in the first place man. He's going to kill you. Have you lost all sense of self preservation."<br>"It's what happens."  
>"Bullshit. You just switched it all off. You couldn't do Phthonos' dirty work if you had any kind of emotion left." Now Maximus was pissed. He turned around and looked about ready to punch me in the face.<br>"You have no idea Angel. You think you've been through shit I've been a minion all my life. You don't know what that's like!"  
>"Then why go back to it when you have a chance to change?"<br>"As if anyone here would accept me after I was a spy for Phthonos."  
>"They still accept me." He huffed and looked at me with an annoyed look on his face.<br>"Please, you were locked in a cage." His anger faded. He went back to the emotionless stare he always had. "Anyway...I'm leaving."  
>"I won't let you. I've tried to talk you out of this...but I can't let you go back to Phthonos. One way or another." Truth was...Maximus and I were quite alike. He was rough but he had a good heart, and I wasn't going to lose that to Phthonos.<br>"Don't make me fight you Angel...you don't stand a chance." I pretty much agreed with Maximus. I didn't think I could beat him. He probably went through some serious training under Phthonos' regime. But I couldn't just let him go.  
>"Bring it." Before I could blink I felt the first punch in my face. I could feel the blood dripping from my lip. He tried to punch me again but this time I was quick enough. I knocked away his arm and my left hand went for his sternum. I knew how to fight that wasn't the problem...but he was quicker than I was. The punch never connected. He had knocked away my arm like I did to him. We went on like that. Deflect, counter, get deflected. Our hands moved quickly. I tried to kick once or twice but nothing came out of it. Eventually though he got through. It was a simple combination, I should have seen it coming. Two quick lefts, right to the sternum, left to the jaw and right to the nose. I got all of his punches except for the last one. He hit me right in the nose. I fell down, the blood gushing out of my nose.<br>"You can't stop me, and you can't stop Phthonos." Now I got mad. I jumped up, charged and punched him square in the jaw. Now he went down.  
>"Then help us! If we work together we can stop him! There has to be a way to stop him. If it exist we'll find it."<br>"Why do you even care Angel? Why do you care what Phthonos does to camp or to anyone else? Who do you have in the world to protect? We're the same. We have no one, and no one wants us. You know how they look at you at camp. Nobody likes you Angel. Even Luke doesn't. Why do you fight for them?" It was something I wasn't sure about. Why did I try to stop Phthonos?  
>"I don't know. Maybe...maybe it's because I believe I can redeem myself. We've both done some fucked up things Max. But this we can fix. We can protect instead of destroy. That's worth fighting for." Max crawled up and stood in front of me.<br>"I don't understand you Angel. But you have a point. I'll help. I think it's suicide. But I'll help."

Maximus left for the big house. It's where we were supposed to meet when we found Maximus. I didn't though. I went to the beach. I thought about what Maximus said. I still didn't realize why I fought. What I told Maximus wasn't what I believed. I couldn't redeem myself. So why did I fight? I thought about it for a long time. Eventually I lay down in the sand still pondering...until sleep got the best of me.

I was on the roof of Jake's apartment. It was a stormy night, many nights were when I lived there. Jake was there...and he wasn't alone. Phthonos was there too.  
>"I was wondering when you were going to stop by." Jake said. He was looking over the skyline. I wondered when this was. Jake looked exactly the way he did when I left his place.<p>

"So how was my little boy?" Phthonos said.  
>"He's fine. Mentally fucked up...but that's the way you like it isn't it?" Phthonos laughed slightly. It was more like a sinister chuckle or something.<br>"Not quite the guy you knew so well is it."  
>"I don't even want to know what you did to him Phthonos."<br>"Oh come on. You're not even a little curious how I turned him from your good old buddy into Samael?" Jake looked at Phthonos with intense hatred.  
>"You're not here to talk about your son. You're here for this." Angel tapped his necklace. It was one he always wore. It was a small pendant in the shape of an owl. He said it was something that he would protect with his life. I always wondered why.<br>"Ahh Messor. The titan slayer. The blade you used to defeat Hyperion given to you by Athena herself." I had no idea that his pendant was a weapon. Learn new things every day.  
>"You're not getting it."<br>"Don't be so foolish Jake." That's when Jake attacked. Phthonos summoned a blade to his hand and defended himself. If he wasn't a god he wouldn't have stood a chance. Jake was a warrior, he was a master of puppets. He always had his slaves to do his dirty work. I wondered how long it had been since Phthonos held that weapon. Jake would have defeated him no doubt about it, but Phthonos wasn't a mortal man.  
>"I will get Messor Jake." Phthonos said. He was badly wounded. Jake was a far better fighter then he would ever be.<br>"Don't be so foolish Fiffy." Phthonos looked at Jake with intense rage. He was done with playing fair. Jake was going to pay for this.  
>"Do you know the story of your father? How Zeus tied him to a rock and had a crow eat out his liver every day and then it grew back blah blah blah. Well...the apple never falls far from the tree." With one twist of his wrist Phthonos removed Jake's liver. Jake crumbled...crawled over the floor in pain. He screamed for a while...then he got a hold of himself.<br>"You won't get it Phthonos. You'll never get it. I've made sure of that."  
>"What...you're going to haunt me? I'm terrified." Jake just laughed...he just laughed. Then he threw himself off the roof.<p>

I woke up sweaty and panting. I knew what I just dreamed. I remembered everything of it. I hadn't woken alone. Beside me stood a girl...about seventeen. She had long waving black hair, hazel brown eyes and wore casual clothing. She didn't smile...it looked like she hadn't smiled for a long time. "Hello Angel." She spoke. I didn't know who she was. I didn't know how she knew my name. But one thing I did know...I knew why I was going to beat Phthonos: Vengeance.


	17. The Task

Chapter 17: The task

Her name was Ashlyn. I had heard about her, she was a good friend of Jake's. Many believed Jake and her were more. If I knew Jake the way I thought I did...I would say he wished they had been more. He talked about her a lot that was certain. I had never seen her before but I imagined her different. Jake told me about her smile and how funny she was. How she was too kind for this world. That was not the girl I saw standing beside me. She looked sad...and cold. Her eyes stared into nothingness. It seemed as if she was locked inside herself.  
>"What did you dream of?" She asked me. I wondered if she knew that I had been dreaming about something or if it was just a wild guess.<br>"Jake's death..." I said. She knew Jake well. Together with Sophie Brighton and Darius Nikolas they saved the world.  
>"So you know who killed him?" She asked. My voice turned from kindness into hate. Even thinking about him made my blood boil.<br>"Phthonos." The god of Malice, ill-will and jealousy. He would pay for what he did to Jake. The worst thing was that Colt had met this guy, was helping this guy. Which meant that I was helping this guy. It made me sick.  
>"He deserved better don't you think?"<br>"Yeah...yeah he did." I still couldn't believe that I just watched him die. What Luke had told me about dreams was true though. It shows the past, present and the future. I had just seen the past. "What do you know about Messor?" I asked her. She looked at me with wide eyes. She was surprised that I knew about that.  
>"I know that only two living mortals are supposed to know about that. Did Jake tell you?"<br>"No. I think it's why Phthonos killed Jake. Jake kept on saying Phthonos would never have it. What does that mean?"  
>"So that's what he's after..." Ashlyn didn't seem to know everything about what happened that night...it made me wonder about something.<br>"How do you know Phthonos killed Jake?" I asked her. Tears seemed to swell up in her eyes. She didn't want to tell me...but she did.  
>"Me and Sophie...we were out in town. You know just hanging around pretty much. Phthonos showed up with his body...what was left of it. After that monster left we took his gloves as reminders and we brought him here to be burned. I still can't believe he's gone sometimes. Me and him had been friends since we were thirteen. He was always so kind. He had his doubts sometimes but he was so strong..." Then she broke into tears. I didn't know what to do. I had only just met her and here she was crying her eyes out.<br>"He used to say things like that about you. He cared about you very much." I said. It didn't help very much. I wasn't much of a talker. I jumped into things without thinking twice about it...and that wasn't good when you're trying to cheer someone up or give a motivational speech.  
>"Yeah, I know that. I just wish his last year had been different. Ever he found out he was going to die..." I cut her off right there.<br>"What? He knew he was going to die?" I couldn't believe that. I didn't know anything about that. He never told me. He always talked about meeting me at camp. Introducing me to everyone he talked about. But he always knew...  
>"He knew for a long time. He tried to stop it but he couldn't. He only lightened up after he met you...I don't know why." I didn't understand that either. I didn't understand anything of this. "You know it was hard enough to lose Jake...but then Sophie. I wonder where Jake send her."<br>"Sophie has been missing for months right? You said Jake send her somewhere?" The more Ashlyn said the more confused I got. One thing I did know. Once this was all done. I had to find her. She knew what Jake had planned. I needed to know what she knew.  
>"Ashlyn...when I was living with Jake I overheard a conversation between Sophie and him...they were talking about me. Jake had some plans and she wasn't sure if she could agree with them, but she did. Do you know anything about that?" She doubted for second. As if she wanted to tell me but didn't. That's how I was sure she was lying.<br>"I'm sorry Angel. I don't know anything about that. Jake got kind of secretive after a while. He barely told me anything. Except for one thing." She pulled something out her pocket. This tiny bronze cube, it didn't seem of much importance. "Not long before he died and you had already left he told me that if I could I had to give you these. I have kept them...they reminded me of him. But it was his wish." She held the cube tightly in her hand and it changed. It changed into two bronze gloves. Jake's gloves. "I remember when he got these. They pretty much halved his hand movement. His dad changed them to a bit more easy to wear. Jake said they would fit you." I was afraid to put them on at first. They weren't mine...they were Jake's. Could I really wear them as my own? I doubted that I could ever look at them and believe that I earned them. But they were Jake's to give, and he had given them to me. I put them on awkwardly. They were a perfect fit...as if they had been made for my hands not Jake's. I clenched my fists and spikes came out of the gloves. They were deadly weapons indeed.  
>"Thanks Ashlyn. Thank you so much."<br>"Thank Jake." I started to walk off. I wanted to see Ashlyn again but now I needed some time alone. Some time to think. Luke and Max were waiting in the big house I knew that but I had to let them wait a little longer. Before I walked off I asked turned around to ask my final question.  
>"Ashlyn...Phthonos having Messor is bad isn't it." She looked at me with a troubled expression...and simply nodded.<p>

I walked around camp to ease my mind. There was so much I didn't understand. I didn't understand what Phthonos wanted with Messor. I didn't understand what Jake had planned for me. Everything was so confusing. I tried to think but my thoughts wouldn't line up. I couldn't concentrate on anything. Thoughts overlapped, I was thinking a billion things at the same time. Until...I felt focused. I felt as if I could figure this out. My brain just went from p sized to Einstein. That's when I saw her. A woman in a white dress, blonde hair and intense gray eyes. I had no idea who it was. But there was no doubt as to what she was.  
>"Hello Angel." This thing about people knowing my name when I had no idea who they were got kinda scary. But I already figured out this was a goddess and she probably knew a whole lot more about me other than my name.<br>"Hi..." I said. I wasn't sure what to do. As far as I knew I never met a god or goddess before. She could probably zap me into the abyss whenever she wanted to...but she hadn't yet so I had my hopes up.  
>"Do you know who I am?" I still don't know how I figured it out. My thoughts were still going lightning quick but they were clear. I knew when I was at the right end and when I wasn't. I knew this had to do with Phthonos, Messor and possibly me. Messor was given to Jake by Athena. Phthonos wanted Messor for some devilish plan and I was about to stop Phthonos. The only god other than Phthonos that was mentioned was Athena so that was my guess.<br>"Athena?" She smiled.  
>"Don't make an answer a question boy. Especially when you're right. Another one...do you know why I'm here?"<br>"Phthonos, Messor...end of the world. Among those lines?" I asked. I was pretty sure about this one. It was the only reason why I could see a goddess as important as Athena to visit a bloke like me.  
>"Indeed. Jake never told you about Messor did he?" I shook my head. "Good. He promised me he wouldn't. I gave it to him when he went on his quest to defeat Hyperion. I was his patron you see."<br>"Why's that?" I wondered what was so important about this dagger. I had absolutely no idea but Phthonos wanted it and apparently Jake was forbidden to talk about it.  
>"I met him once, not long after Hyperion first attacked camp and killed a friend of his. He was confused, afraid and grieving. But he was wise. So I agreed to guide and protect him if he fought Hyperion. And as you know he did."<br>"He locked him in Tartarus right?" I asked. "That's what Grace told me."  
>"That's the official story Jake and the others made up. Very few know what really happened. And you'll be one of them." She lay her hand on my head and I started seeing things.<p>

I wasn't at camp any more...I was on some kind of mountain...no idea where exactly but I was there. I saw four kids in their early teens fighting a tall, light emitting, golden armoured, sun eyed dude who I guessed was Hyperion. He wore a giant golden sword which looked heavy but the titan handled it without a problem. The kids were attacking the guy with everything they had but they stood no chance. Eventually they all charged at once. The titan just stood their laughing. One second to the next the four kids were blown away. Jake landed not far from Hyperion, Sophie landed close to the edge but not over it. Ashlyn got knocked into a rock and was knocked out. And the only one of the four I didn't get a good look of was Darius Nikolas. I saw him go over the edge, only then I got a good look of his face. I thought I recognized him. I didn't know how but I did. But it couldn't be. Because he fell off the side of the mountain.  
>"Dean!" Jake screamed. He got up and turned to Hyperion. "You'll pay for that Hyperion!" He screamed. That's when Hyperion charged Jake. He was lighting quick but Jake just side stepped. I figured he saw Hyperion's move before it happened. But Jake didn't just dodge, he countered. Hyperion went past Jake but Jake grabbed the titan and stabbed him in the neck with Messor. They stood their both screaming. Their was an extreme light. So bright it nearly burned my eyes out and I wasn't even really there. That's when Athena appeared next to Jake. Both Hyperion and Jake seemed in pain.<br>"Jake let go!" I heard Sophie scream. "This is killing you!"  
>"Don't listen to her Jake." Athena protested. You can't let go of him. This place will be his cage...and the dagger will be the only key." Jake still screamed...but he understood. He pushed the dagger even further in Hyperion's neck and then Hyperion got smaller. When I looked closely...he wasn't getting smaller. He was being sucked in...the ground itself was sucking Hyperion in through one tiny hole. And when Hyperion had been completely sucked in The dagger was a perfect fit. Jake twisted it counter clockwise and the lock closed.<p>

And then I was back. Athena had shown me the fight that made Jake famous hero. And I understood why for once.  
>"Phthonos wants to free Hyperion?" I asked. If so that was a major threat. It took four very strong heroes to take him on last time. Who at camp was that strong now? Luke maybe, Max if he was willing to join the good cause. I myself lacked the strength to do this. Or so I believed.<br>"Not exactly. Right now Hyperion is barely anything to be set free. Jake truly beat him and like a monster he needs to reform. Very few titans get destroyed to such a point but it takes a long time to recover. But Phthonos realized something that Jake and I realized not long after he defeated Hyperion. You see part of Hyperion's being passed into Jake as he stabbed Hyperion. The dagger served as a sort of wire between them making a part of Hyperion's power go into Jake. Just a tiny part...if Jake had taken double of the tiny bit of power he got he would have been destroyed. What it did for Jake was that it improved his ability to see into the future. He saw his own future until the day he died, and the future of people he knew, and then of complete strangers. It took him a while before he controlled it. But anyway, Phthonos wants someone to take much more in. And whoever does becomes a pretty powerful weapon for someone like Phthonos."  
>"So what? Me, Max, Samael, we're all candidates or something?" I asked her.<br>"In a way...yes. Phthonos has taken a liking in Colt as far as I know. If he opens this lock and turns someone into a power like that...It'll be horrible. We can't let that happen." Especially if that person was someone like Colt. If Colt got that juiced up Phthonos had to be prepared to be betrayed. Colt answered to no one especially not if he had power enough to destroy cities.  
>"So what do we do?"<br>"You defeat Phthonos." She said that as if it was the easiest task out there.  
>"How!" I had spoken bravely against Max but the truth was that I had no idea if there even was a way I could defeat Phthonos. He was a god and I was just...me. More so...if Jake couldn't defeat what chance did I have?<br>"Go to my uncle in the underworld. He'll help you." She wanted me to go see Hades? That was madness. I doubted I was his favourite demigod, more probable he wanted to kill me in the most horrible way you can think of.  
>"The god of death is going to help me? Colt killed his daughter."<br>"Colt didn't...Phthonos did." This might sound harsh...but I was actually really happy about that. That meant that the lord of the death might actually not hate me as much as I thought. "Oh yeah, before you go speak to Colin."  
>"Who's Colin?" My question wasn't answered. Athena was gone. And I had been given a task to do...I had been given a quest.<p> 


	18. The Vengeful, the Lonely and the Hated

Chapter 18: The Vengeful, the lonely and the hated

I was still blown away by what just happened. The goddess Athena had just told me to go defeat a god that was pretty much the most hated god at camp half-blood. It was easier said than done that was for sure. I still didn't really know how she expected me to do something like that. I was just a regular, slightly messed up, bloke. How could I beat Phthonos? At least I had some help. I was pretty sure Luke and Maximus would help. Luke had lost friends to Phthonos and Maximus probably wanted to break free from his old master once and for all. I hoped they had any ideas on how to defeat Phthonos, and who this Colin guy was. Athena seemed all right but she had put quite the task on him without telling him what to do. I made my way to the big house. It was where I was supposed to do quite some time ago. Better late then never.

There we were, the five us were all sitting in the big house not knowing what to do. I told them what Athena told me. How Phthonos wanted to turn someone into a super minion with Hyperion's power. How Athena told me to go to Hades to ask for help. I couldn't believe that they believed me. It was quite a weird story. Of course for demigods it wasn't that weird at all. We were all quiet, just thinking of a way to get Hades to help us. And how he could help us.  
>"I think we should ask for a quest." Grace said.<br>"Chiron won't allow it. No matter how great the danger he wouldn't send anyone to Hades, especially not three people." Luke said.  
>"What's a quest?" Maximus asked. I had the exact same question.<br>"Quests are tasks for demigods. Something is up, a quest gets put up. The quest leader gets a meeting with the oracle and then you said out. For bigger quests a group of three goes. It's a sacred number. Whenever more than three go, someone dies." Luke explained. "And the last quest that required for someone to go to see good old Hades got two people killed and one locked up in the underworld. The idiot didn't know his mythology and ate a piece of chicken. He's been there cleaning up Hades's palace for three years now." That didn't really inspire confidence. After all we had to go there and I really wasn't up for being Hades' housemaid.  
>"So what do we do? Athena gave him this job he has to do whether Chiron allows it or not." Grace said. She was right. I could hardly tell Athena to bug someone else. This was my task now.<br>"We can hardly go without Chiron knowing and without a prophecy from Rachel." Maria said. She had been quiet, I figured that was because of my presence. It was no secret that she didn't like me at all. I didn't really blame her. She had met Colt twice now. Once he had tried to kill her the other he had been locked up but even that couldn't have been a fun experience.  
>"Who's Colin?" I asked. I hadn't said a thing since I finished my story. I hadn't mentioned Colin until now. And as soon as I did I realized that I shouldn't have. Everyone went quiet and looked at me with sad eyes. Except for Maximus of course. He had a questioning look like me. Neither of us had an idea why this was so bad.<br>"Colin Price is someone at camp. Well he used to be at camp. These days he just roams the woods and sneaks in to snatch some food every once in a while. He used to be an all right guy. Nice kid. He was a good friend of Eric's and when Phthonos killed him Colin went mad. He hunted Phthonos down and attacked him." Luke explained.  
>"So what happened?" I asked.<br>"He got cursed. A curse of hatred. No one can look upon him and give him any kindness. When we're not around him we feel bad but as soon as we see him we hate him. Pretty soon that started working both ways. He hates us all and would probably love to see camp destroyed. How do you know his name?"  
>"Athena told me to go talk to him just before she disappeared."<br>"Talk to Colin? The last person that tried to do that nearly got herself killed." Maria said.  
>"Who tried?" Maximus asked. I didn't really care who. I just wanted to figure out a way to get him to talk. I understood why Athena wanted me to talk to him. Maximus had worked for Phthonos so he probably didn't have much insight on how to defeat him. But Colin fought Phthonos, and ever since then he had probably thought of ways to defeat him for once and for all.<br>"His ex girlfriend, Summer Rhodes." Maria answered. Maria didn't seem to have much of a problem with Maximus. Maybe it was because that wasn't as personal as what Colt did. "She said some stupid things to him, it wasn't her fault, even though she loved him she was still affected by Phthonos' curse."  
>"Shouldn't you be one of those people that believe that love beats everything?" I asked. She looked at me with a destructive look. Obviously I had no right to crack jokes.<br>"I do, but Phthonos even corrupts that I suppose." She answered. She looked away from me again. I didn't think she'd ever forgive me, it didn't really matter. Being forgiven for the things Colt didn't wasn't really my problem at the moment.  
>"Either way we should go talk to him. He'll listen when we tell him what we're planning." I figured that if Athena told me to talk to this guy I should.<br>"We're not planning anything. We have no idea how to defeat Phthonos." Maximus said. I knew someone would bring that one up.  
>"He doesn't have to know that."<p>

After a while we decided that it was better that Luke and I went instead of all of us. Colin would probably feel like he was being attacked if all of us went. We searched the woods for quite some time. We went after every rustle of the leaves we heard. Sometimes we found that it was nothing but a forest animal but after a while both of us realized we were being watched. Something was following us around. And this wasn't a monster. There had been more than enough chances to attack us...no this thing was watching us, not trying to attack. This thing was Colin Price.  
>"We know you're here Colin." Luke said. We heard something move. He was circling around us, staying out of sight at all time.<br>"What are you doing here?" It didn't take me long to figure out why Colin stayed out of sight. As long as we didn't actually see him the curse wouldn't effect us.  
>"We need to talk to you about Phthonos." I said.<br>"Who's the new kid Luke? Is that Jake's pet people used to whisper about." Colin said. I had no idea what he meant. I doubted that I wanted to know.  
>"That's not something you should talk about Colin." Luke said. I knew what they were talking about. Jake's plan. I still had no idea what it meant exactly but Luke knew something about it and so did Colin.<br>"Why shouldn't I? The Styx can kill me for all I care. I have nothing to lose." The Styx, the river you needed to cross to get into the underworld. What did that river have to do with anything? And why would it kill him? It was a river.  
>"If you know how to defeat Phthonos then you have something to gain." Luke was trying to persuade Colin. It didn't really seem to work. Colin just kept on circling us like some animal.<br>"Phthonos. You can't beat Phthonos. He'll kill you, or make you end up like me. Hear that pet? Don't even bother." Colin was talking to me now. I had no idea where the pet thing came from but that was Colin's preferred way of calling me.  
>"I'm not a pet." I said. I didn't really believe that. I knew Jake had some kind of plan. And now Phthonos seemed to have some kind of plan for me. It didn't seem like I had many decisions of my own.<br>"That's what you think." I really started to dislike this guy. I didn't know if that was because of the curse or because he was being a total bastard.  
>"Look, if you know nothing about Phthonos we'll leave you alone." I said. That seemed to piss him off. He stopped moving around and showed himself. He didn't seem like a normal person, not any more. His clothes were dirty and ripped, his hair was greasy and he had quite a few cuts on his face. He smelled foul and I guessed that he didn't have a bath for a while. But more than that...just the sight of him. Made me burn with hatred. I hated this kid more than Phthonos, more than William, more than Colt. I could see Luke's face change as well. The look he wore I hadn't seen before. A look of pure disgust. It was as if he wasn't looking at a person but at a disgusting animal that should be put down. What I felt was different though. Thoughts went through my mind, visions of Colt's memories, visions I hadn't had before. I felt control slipping away, Colt was taking over. My hate triggered him to come out. My hate was what created him and it was what brought him out. I could feel him taking, and it hurt like hell. I rubbed my temples and closed my eyes...and then it was gone. I felt no hatred. I didn't feel Colt taking over. I was just me again. It truly was just sight. If I didn't look at him I didn't hate him.<br>"Look at you Colin. You used to be such a nice guy and now you're an animal. Strolling through the woods with your face covered in dirt." The sound in Luke's voice was different. I remember how he spoke to me after Colt nearly killed Maria. And he was very pissed then. Now though his voice didn't even sound like his own voice.  
>"Luke close your eyes." I tried. It worked for me so I figured if Luke would do the same the hate would disappear.<br>"Shut up Angel. You should open them. If you just look at him you would understand. We should put this thing out of his misery."  
>"Luke close your eyes!" I tried again.<br>"Why? Not seeing this pathetic excuse of a demigod won't help. I could still smell him. You sicken me Colin. You sicken me more than Phthonos himself. If Eric could see you right now he would spit on you." That's when I knew I had to jump in. I knew where Luke was standing. I didn't need my eye sight for that. I just hoped I hit him where I wanted to. I swung for his head. I needed to knock him out. He wasn't going to close his eyes, so I closed them for him. I could hear him fall to the ground. He was out cold.  
>"Why would you do that puppet?"<br>"Why do you keep calling me that?" I asked him. I didn't hate him. I didn't really like him but this way the curse didn't seem to have much effect.  
>"Because it's what you are. All this you're doing right now. You think it's free will. Trust me it's not. And Luke over there. He knows it's not. He's in on it, or he will be. I'm not really sure about that one."<br>"Do you know how to defeat Phthonos?" I asked. I couldn't let him get to me. He was lying, he had to be.  
>"There is no way. You have seen me, this is what he did to me. It's what he'll do to you. You stand no chance. Anyway Angel...this has been fun, but I should be going now." I heard his foot steps, the rustling of the leafs. When I heard nothing. I opened my eyes.<br>"Well that was unproductive." I said more to myself than anyone else. Luke was laying on the ground still out cold. My hand hurt from the punch, Luke had a hard head.  
>"Was it really?" I heard a voice say. I turned around lightning quick, behind me stood Athena. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you."<br>"It was unproductive, what did he tell us that was of any use." The truth was I was pissed at the goddess. I had to knock out Luke, nearly lost control and Colin confused more than ever.  
>"He didn't tell you anything, but he showed you. Phthonos can do things to people you wouldn't believe. Colin is a victim but so are others. He destroys a person and everyone close to his victim."<br>"So what am I supposed to learn from that?" I asked. I didn't really understand what the goddess meant.  
>"That you have to be extremely careful with Phthonos. He won't kill you, but he will try to break your spirit. Your journey won't be easy Angel."<br>"I don't even know what to do. Go ask Hades for help and then what? What if he won't help? What if he decides to feed us chicken?" This was my breaking point. I had been scared all along. Ever since Phthonos entered the picture, ever since I saw him kill Jake. How was I supposed to beat him if Jake couldn't? How was I supposed to beat Samael? How was I supposed to be a hero?  
>"You'll find your path Angel. You have your friends." She looked at Luke who started to wake. "Good luck Angel." Then she disappeared again. At that moment Luke got sat up with a drowsy look on his face.<br>"What did I miss?"


	19. The Journey Begins

Chapter 19: The Journey begins

"I still can't believe you hit me!" Luke said as we walked back to camp. I had told him what happened with Colin and Athena. He seemed surprised that I had seen Athena again. A goddess appearing to you was rare enough, it happening twice in a day was pretty much impossible.  
>"I had to. You seemed about ready to kill Colin." That was true. I didn't actually see it but his voice was enough to convince me of that he wanted to kill Colin.<br>"Well yeah but you didn't have to hit me. You could have just asked."  
>"I DID!" I said slightly offended.<br>"I would have remembered that."  
>"Do you remember anything you said to him?"<br>"What I said are just details." In other words...he didn't remember a thing. Luke and I seemed to be all right with each other even with Colt living inside my grapefruit. Colt had tormented Luke but we seemed to be friends, at least I believed we were.  
>"Sure mate. And anyway being hit in the face isn't the worst thing that happened to you."<br>"My bloody hand can vouch for that you bastard." I laughed. I figured he meant it as a joke. He didn't seem very serious anyway. We pretty much went on that way. Until someone blocked our path. It was a boy, not very tall, not comparing to Luke and I anyway. He was wearing a grey hoody and black trousers. He didn't look very dangerous, except for his eyes anyway. His eyes spoke murder.  
>"Luke get out of here. This is between me and him." The boy said.<br>"Lucio, don't do this. I know what you might have heard but it's a little more complicated than that." Luke said. I didn't really know what this was about. But if the kid wanted a piece of me I'd let him have it.  
>"He killed my sister! How can that be some kind of misunderstanding!" Lucio was red of rage. He hated me, and I didn't blame him. I knew who his sister was. Evie had gotten the most undignified death possible. Slashed to pieces by a madman and left to die alone.<br>"I'm sorry about your sister kid. But you have to understand that what happened was out of my control and that you shouldn't waste your life trying to get revenge. Evie wouldn't have wanted that." I said to the boy. He was too young to have his heart filled with rage like this. He reminded me too much of myself when I was that age. When I was twelve I was already a murderer because of revenge. I didn't wish the same fate of anyone.  
>"Don't you say what Evie would have wanted, don't you dare! There's nothing I have to understand, you killed her, and I'll kill you!" He pulled out a sword. A simple bronze sword from the armoury, it was possible that Luke had made it.<br>"You want to kill me? You have no idea what it is like to take a life kid. It's not what you think. Even if you could kill me it won't make the pain go away. You'll always miss her, you'll always hate me even when I'm dead and buried." I was speaking out of experience. I knew what revenge was like. Nemesis had a lot of influence on me. I had killed too many people out of revenge, and now this kid was going to try and kill me. The only thing was that he didn't have the heart for killing like I had. He couldn't beat me and even if he could I doubted that he would strike me down when push came to shove.  
>"You know how it is to kill don't you! I saw her body, how could you do that to her? She never did anything wrong, she never hurt you. How could you do that!" Lucio was shaking on his knees, he held his sword weakly in his hand. I didn't want to fight him, and even though it was harsh, I didn't have the time to explain it to him. I sprinted forwards and grabbed his arm before he could move. I pulled the sword out of his hand and tripped him down to the floor.<br>"I'm sorry about your sister Lucio. If I could turn back what happened I would. I understand that you hate me but right now I don't have time to explain what happened. Don't try to go after me again Lucio, don't pursue your revenge. It will corrupt you until you're not the same person." I said. Tears appeared in his eyes. He was still grieving, this was merely one step in accepting that his sister was no more. I threw his sword away from him and signed Luke that we should keep going.

The five of us assembled in the Prometheus cabin. It was the only place where we wouldn't be bothered by anyone. I figured Jake nor Prometheus would have minded us using his cabin. Especially since we were going to try and defeat the one that killed Jake. I think the titan of forethought would see that as a valid reason to use his cabin. It was getting late and it had been a long day. Dinner would be soon, but we had to come to a decision. We had to act now.  
>"I still think we should ask for a quest." Grace said again.<br>"No, no quest. Whatever we decide it stays between these walls." I said. The five of us knew the whole story. If we involved the whole camp it would do more bad than good. It would probably be slowed down and go through this whole system before we could leave we didn't have that time to waste. Phthonos was getting on edge, this was the only window we were going to get and we had to take it.  
>"Why don't we just go to Los Angeles and enter the underworld?" Maximus asked.<br>"Wait the underworld is in Los Angeles?" I asked. No wonder my life there involved so much death, I was living on top of the underworld...well the entrance anyway. If I understood how it all worked all of America was on top of the underworld. Or even the entire world, I didn't know that for sure.  
>"Then what if something happens? We leave and never come back then what. Then who'll stop Phthonos?" Maria asked. The truth was that when I first met Maria I thought she was shallow and arrogant like most daughters of Aphrodite. And she was arrogant but not as shallow as I thought. Now that something was going on she wanted to help. And the more I was around her the more I realized that she didn't hate me because Colt tried to kill her, but because he tried to kill Luke.<br>"Then some of us stay behind." I answered. "Three is a sacred number right? Three go, two stay behind. So who goes?"  
>"You have to go Angel...trust me I don't like it but you got the task from Athena not anyone else." Maria said. I was surprised when Maria said I should go. She explained why she said it but still. It felt strange. I think she already knew who were going to go before we all agreed on it.<br>"Okay." I swallowed some self doubt there. I was scared about what would happen. I didn't believe that I stood a chance against Phthonos. There were far better demigods than me, why did I get this job?  
>"So who else goes?" Luke asked. I was sure already who was going. I was pretty sure that Maria didn't want to go even if Luke went too, and I would die before letting Grace go.<br>"I say you and Maximus." Maria said before I could. "Maximus knows more about Phthonos than any of us. And you're the best fighter and the most experienced. You three should go. Does everyone agree?" Everyone nodded, although no one was really happy about this. I think all of us wished none of this was necessary.  
>"Okay...that's decided then." Luke said doubtfully. I didn't think he wanted to go and I knew why. This quest it was dangerous and we wouldn't have any help from camp. Out of the three of us he was the only one with someone to return to. If he died he would be missed while me and Maximus were expendable. Luke had a life while me and Maximus were about ready to die. He feared the quest more than any of us. "So what do we need? Money, Drachmas, clothes, food. How are we going to get all that?"<br>"We have half an hour before dinner, we should have everything before then." Maria said while looking on her watch. "I'll go to the supply room to get money and drachmas. Grace you go to the kitchen and grab some things to eat. Things that last, nothing that goes bad quickly." Grace nodded in agreement. "Maximus can go to the laundry room and grab a few changes of clothes. You obviously know where to find it." Maria looked at the clothes Maximus was wearing. He had stolen them earlier that day when he tried to leave camp. Maximus just put on a cheeky smile and then nodded. "Luke you'll go to the infirmary and get nectar and ambrosia for the three of you."  
>"I love it when you get all bossy." Luke said with a smile.<br>"Shut up." Maria replied chuckling a bit. "Angel you get some bags. After dinner you can pack whatever more you need and then you leave tonight." She had seemed controlled and focused until she said that. I guess that's when she realized that Luke was leaving and might never return. It couldn't have been easy for her.  
>"Let's do it. We'll meet back here as soon as possible and head to the dining pavilion together." I said. We all did our jobs. I 'found' three backpacks in the Hermes cabin. Maria got about three hundred dollars and a few drachmas which were probably worth a lot more than the dollars. And three hundred was a lot of money for a kid from the streets. Luke had three flasks of nectar and about fifteen ambrosia squares. It was safer to all carry one flask and some of the ambrosia than the carry it all in one bag. There was a chance a bag got lost somewhere along the way and knowing luck it would be the bag with nectar and ambrosia. Max came back with clothes that wouldn't really get noticed in the mortal world. If all our clothes said camp half blood it would be kind of weird. He got jumpers, t-shirts, jeans and everything else we might need. Grace came back empty handed. She apologized a million times but because of dinner being made she couldn't sneak in and knick some food. It didn't really matter. I figured the three hundred quid would get us pretty far when it came to food.<p>

Dinner was weird. It was like being in the last supper by Leonardo Da Vinci. We all had to sit in separate tables, well all of us except for Maximus and me. Since we were both unclaimed we sat next to each other at the Hermes table. We barely spoke though. Nor ate. Well I barely ate...Maximus didn't seem to have such a bad appetite. Luke was sitting at the Hephaestus table rolling spaghetti around his fork and then dropping it. Maria stared at her plate as if there was a chopped of head on it instead of food and Grace sat silently at the Iris table. We all knew what was going to happen and none of us liked it. We were nearly ready to go, but none of us wanted to.

After Dinner we all went our separate ways for a while. We weren't going to leave until the entire camp was in deep slumber. I didn't really know what the others did exactly but I know that Maria and Luke spend their time together and that Maximus went to the woods. I always figured that Grace was just in her cabin waiting for her siblings to go to sleep. I myself packed Jake's gloves and Shadow-edge and went to the beach. I sat there watching the sun go down and the moon get brighter. It was a full moon and it's reflection in the sea was a beautiful sight. Time went by slowly as tried to get my thoughts straight on how we were going to take care of all this. The funny thing was that while I was sitting there I worried more about Samael than Phthonos. Maximus said that Samael was Phthonos' son so I was pretty sure we'd find him somewhere along the line. It wasn't a reunion I was looking forward to. If we did I knew I would have to fight him. I highly doubted that I could beat him. He was stronger than I was and probably trained a lot harder in the last few months. I had to have some hope though. If we didn't have hope then this had failed already.

"Angel?" I heard Grace voice. I wondered if she had just decided to come to the beach or if she figured I was here. It didn't matter either way, I could do with some company.

"Hey Grace." I said. She sat down next to me. I still just stared over the ocean wondering what was going to happen to me. This quest could go so many ways and very few involved me returning home.

"I think everything is set. You're ready to go." Grace said. I huffed.

"I'll never be ready to go. Not into certain death anyway." I wasn't very optimistic and this point. Usually I tried to be but given things rarely turned out the way I wanted them I lost my optimism along the road.

"Don't say that! You'll be fine, all of you will be." Grace said. Her undying support always surprised me. I had done nothing to earn it. Why did she believe in me while all I had done at camp was wrong?

"Grace...why do you believe in me so much?" A question I needed an answer to. Maybe there was some kind of reason I didn't understand.

"Because...well...you're like him." Grace said. I knew she meant Jake. Who else could she mean by that? But it was another thing I doubted. I wasn't like Jake at all. He was a hero, I was a monster. I wondered how she got to the conclusion that we were alike. I guess it was a compliment for me but it was a definite insult to Jake.

"I wish." I said. I couldn't agree with what Grace said although I could have been nicer about not agreeing.

"I figured you wouldn't see it yourself. But it's true. You both have too much self doubt and always blame yourselves for the things that go wrong, even if you can't stop it. He wasn't a born hero either but like you he stood up when it was needed. And trust me he was just as scared as you are right now." Apparently she knew Jake and me quite well. Didn't know how that happened. I still didn't agree. Jake hadn't done the things I had done, he was a good guy unlike me.

"You really think so huh?" I asked her. I didn't agree but I could hardly say something about it given she had given me a giant compliment, one I hardly deserved.

"Yeah..." After that there was a long pause. I didn't really know what to say any more and even though it was rare for her, she didn't either. So we just sat there for a while. Was I really like Jake? "You know...if this happened...earlier. The one person I know that could have stopped it was Jake. He's gone but you're not. He trained you, he taught you everything he knew. He lives on in you Angel. Live your life for the both of you." Grace said. They were great words. There was so much more to Grace than what you saw at first glance. She seemed like a real girly girl, and she was. But she was also tough, smart and probably the kindest person I had ever met.

"Thanks Grace." I said. Her words gave me strength. What she said that evening...I would never forget it.

"I should go to the Iris cabin. Else they'll know something is up." She smiled and got up. "I'll see you tonight." Grace said. I smiled and nodded. I was left alone again. Usually I didn't mind but losing Grace's company was a true loss.

It was past two am before we were all at Thalia's pine tree. Well near Thalia's pine tree, none of us wanted to get too close to the dragon that was catching some shut eye out there. We had all come from different places of camp. I had spend the rest of the night on the beach while Max came out of the woods. Maria and Luke had spend the time together. Grace had gone back to the Iris cabin after she spoke to me and acted like she was sleeping. She couldn't have fallen asleep even if she wanted to.  
>"So this is really happening huh?" Grace said. She had broken about ten minutes of silence. None of us knew what to say. I wasn't one for goodbye's. The last time I left someone was with one see you later and the one before that involved me blowing some old friends up.<br>"Yeah I guess so." I said. That's when Grace pretty much tackle hugged me.  
>"Come back okay?"<br>"I will." I said. She let go of me and I noticed Luke and Maria were saying goodbye as well. They hugged and Maria let go with tears rolling over her cheek. Then she walked up to me and put on her hate face again.  
>"If you hurt him, or get him hurt or anything. I swear I will kill you." It was a valid thing to say. If I did hurt Luke...she wouldn't even have to kill me. Once I regained consciousness I'd probably kill myself.<br>"Don't worry Maria. I won't let him get hurt." I said. I doubted Luke would have much trouble, he was the best fighter of all of us. Of course we were heading for the underworld...fighting skill doesn't really matter down there.  
>"Hey wait up you three!" A voice said. A red head girl came running up the hill. I had no idea who she was but I knew it was bad since no one else was supposed to know about this. "Wait a minute." She said. She was standing next to us now. She was panting heavily and took a moment to catch her breath.<br>"Rachel what are you doing here?" Maria asked the girl.  
>"I'm the oracle, when stuff happens I know. Sheesh give me some credit." She said. "Anyway Angel I know what you're planning and I just got a prophecy for you that's why I came over here."<br>"Aren't prophecies only given with quests?" I asked the red head girl who was apparently named Rachel. I didn't know at the time but she was the person with the spirit of Delphi, an oracle. She told the future in riddles no one ever understood.  
>"Just because Chiron doesn't know doesn't mean it isn't a quest." She said with a smile and a wink. "Oh don't worry by the way I won't tell." She seemed quite nice. Even though the whole oracle thing was quite creepy. "Anyway prophecy."<p>

Three will walk in the night's dim light  
>Jealousy, ill will and envy they must fight<br>Alone the lord of death he shall face  
>His mental enemy he shall chase<br>The candidate chosen, the cage closed  
>By his finest soldier in the end opposed<p>

It was weird how her voice changed so drastically. She didn't sound like a normal girl any more. She sounded ancient. But that didn't keep me busy very long. The words made no sense and no matter how I tried much didn't make sense. Prophecies never do I guessed. The first line was simple, that was hardly the future. The second line was pretty much what we were set to do. The third scared me to death. Alone the lord of death he shall face. Which probably meant that I would end up going to Hades alone. Which could mean that both Luke and Maximus wouldn't make it there. The fourth line made me think of Colt but how could I chase Colt? The fifth was confusing. Max, Samael or me was the candidate so I guess that was going to be decided. The cage closed I didn't understand. He wanted to open the cage so did that mean we were going to succeed? I didn't know. This all made me wish Rachel had never run up the hill to tell us the prophecy. But that was too late now. So we left. We were on foot for now. We were heading to New York city and there we would take the train towards Chicago. Maria said she would make sure that there we would get three plane tickets towards Los Angeles. Maria had arranged for those. Her dad lived in Chicago and it was hard for him to deny anything to his little girl. Even three plane tickets to Los Angeles for three of her friends. We were all set...now all we had to do was actually travel. And of course...nothing went as planned.


	20. Deeper Underground

Chapter 20: Deeper underground

New York was only just waking up as we walked through the streets of Manhattan. We had hours left until the train to Chicago left. The sun was only just rising and the train left at 1 PM that day. We were all tired and hungry, and I knew a place to go.  
>"Angel are you sure Jake wouldn't mind if we invade his home?" Luke asked.<br>"The guy is dead isn't he? What does he care?" Luke and I both looked at Max with a destructive look. Luke wasn't the best of friends with Jake. They rarely talked but he knew that it was foolish to disrespect the dead.  
>"Jake always said that if I ever needed a place to crash it was all right if I went to his. I still have the key and all." I just hoped that offer was still open even now that he was dead. If it wasn't I probably wouldn't hear about it until I died. Of course my death could be closer than I hoped.<br>"Are you sure it's still his? He's been dead for some time now." Maximus said.  
>"When his mom died he used her life insurance to pay the rent for the next four years. Even though he's dead the apartment is his for about two more years. And anyway in the mortal world no one actually knows that he's dead. His body was never found over here and no one in the mortal world misses him." I said. It was horrible that his death had gone unnoticed in this world but it was how it was. The mortals would never know that we travelled across country to stop an evil god from creating the ultimate minion. They didn't know about anything demigods did, well modern demigods anyway. If the mortals did they would probably destroy us though. After all they always fought what they didn't understand. It's what made them weak and divided. If the mortals all stood strong as one instead of fighting among each other the world wouldn't even need the gods.<p>

The room was exactly the same. Nothing had changed. Of course Jake died shortly after I left and no one had been inside since. It was weird to be there again. Without Jake there the place seemed empty. "I'll take Jake's room, Luke you can take my old room and Max you can take the couch."  
>"Why do I have to take the couch?" Maximus asked.<br>"Because all the other rooms are taken." I said as I entered Jake's room. I took Jake's room because I was the only one that wasn't going to sleep. Like usually I was fine without sleep. And since I didn't want anyone in Jake's room I took it. Jake's room unlike the rest had changed. Jake knew he was going to die, all his personal belongings had been moved. I wondered where they were since they weren't in the Prometheus cabin either. The only thing that was there now was a bed, his desk and a chair. Everything else was gone. Jake never had much stuff but without anything the room had lost the title of Jake's room. I still wasn't going to sleep, it was too weird. Sitting down in the chair at the desk was rest enough for me. My feet was sore and even though the bag wasn't too heavy after carrying it around for a few hours I could feel it in my shoulders. I sat there watching the sun climb higher. I was slightly tired but I could handle it. I was an insomniac I had lived like this all my life. At about ten I left Jake's room to find Maximus laying on the couch...sorta. He was laying under thin blankets with one arm and leg laying over the edge of the couch. Given how 'comfy' he seemed to be I decided to wake Luke first.  
>Luke was laying in my old room, that room was exactly the same. It was always empty. Well ever since I knew it. It was Jake's mum's room before she died. He had given away everything that was in there that didn't have any emotional value to Jake. When I stayed there all there was nothing but a bed and a cupboard. Jake offered me to redecorate the room a thousand times but I refused. I was used to worse and I didn't spend any time on my room anyway.<br>"Luke, wake up man." I whispered. I didn't want to wake Maximus. We were three guys on the road and it was time we pulled a prank. Current target, Max.  
>"Ugh..." Luke moaned.<br>"Come on man. Do you need you're beauty sleep or something?" I said.  
>"I got used to my beauty sleep thanks to Maria." He joked. I had to control myself not to crack up. "So what's up." He still sounded a bit sleepy.<br>"It's about ten, I say we should all head into town and get some snacks and stuff. We're up for a twenty four hour train ride with dinner, breakfast and one three hour stop that's it. And no snack cart!" I said. I couldn't believe there wasn't a snack cart. How could they not have a bloody snack cart!  
>"Good thinking man. You go take care of that while I..." He turned around and closed his eyes. I didn't give him a chance to go back to sleep. I hit him on the back of the head which got him to wake up. "Okay okay. Damn."<br>"Good. By the way I want to pull a little prank with Maxi over there." I said. Now Luke seemed to be wide awake. He wasn't a child of Hermes but he could enjoy a prank just like any other.  
>"Why didn't you say that before? What have you got in mind?" Luke and I were as quietly as we could be. We went to the kitchen, got a big yellow sponge, cracked a joke about how the thing looked like Sponge bob and then soaked it in water. "Dude are you sure about this? I don't think he's going to appreciate this."<br>"I know he isn't. But that's the point. I grew up in an orphanage and trust me, we did this stuff all the time and in the end everyone laughed about it...well everyone but the person it happened to. Until he got his revenge...so watch your back." I said with a joking smile on my face.  
>We slowly and quietly entered the living room. The sponge was dripping water all over the place, I figured I'd clean that up later...or not at all. We stood about 10 feet away from him when I aimed right for his face. He seemed peaceful, if I hadn't grown up around these kind of pranks I probably would have doubted about this. I know Luke was but what the hell. I aimed carefully and threw the wet sponge as hard as I could. It would have landed right in his face, if he hadn't caught it. He wasn't asleep, I didn't really know when he had woken up but he was awake. He caught the wet sponge and launched it right back at me without even opening his eyes. I saw it happening in front of my eyes and was quick enough to dodge. Luke was standing behind me and hadn't seen it. The Sponge hit his square in the face. Water splashed all over the place. The sponge had been so wet it stuck to Luke's face. Luke threatened to kill me, Maximus threatened to kill me if I ever tried something like that in his sleep again, and I couldn't stop laughing my ass off.<p>

We all went our separate ways after that. We were going to spend an awful lot of time together so a little bit of time apart didn't bother any of us. Luke and Max wanted to be away from me given the sponge incident that happened that mourning. We were meeting at central station at about 12. We couldn't take any chances with being late. Everyone had about thirty bucks to buy some snacks and drinks for on the train. I bought some stuff in a small shop. The guy behind the counter seemed nice enough. He was in his late thirties, had a thick moustache and had a bald spot on the top of his head. He slightly reminded me of Lou Seyja. Something in his face made me think of the guy that taught me everything about torture and killing people. I always believed that if he hadn't been around in my life I would have been very different. I remember one time he showed me how to skin a living being using an apple. I couldn't believe Colt hadn't used that yet.  
>"Have a nice day sir." I said as I left the store.<br>"You too kid." The cashier replied in a middle eastern accent. Other than Seyja he reminded me of the guy I shot in a store in Los Angeles. The shoot out that killed five people. Four actual deaths and the fifth was me. When Peter died part of me died with him. After that I lose everything to rage. I became the person that blew up his friends and killed without reason. Jake asked me one day when everything went wrong. At first I thought it was the day my mother killed herself but I was wrong. The day my mum died that sweet little boy died. But the person that rose from his ashes wasn't all bad. If he hadn't been there I wouldn't have been strong enough to do this, I'd just be a scared little brat. I needed to be that person in order to do the things I was destined for. Of course what I was destined for wasn't what I ended up doing.

Outside there were traffic jams, people yelling at each other and tons of people with Starbucks coffee holders in their hands. It was straight up normal New York. Everything except for the subway across the street. A hooded figure took his first few steps down, and looked at me. I recognized him immediately. I had expected to see him somewhere along the road but so soon? Samael looked worse than ever. Skinny, pale and with dark rings under his eyes. But it was him. I crossed the street without even looking at the cars. A red Volvo nearly hit me but other than that I got passed. I ran down the steps of the subway as fast as I could and once I was on the station I saw him. He had gotten off the platform and was walking into the dark tunnels of the subway. No one but me seemed to notice him, it was weird but hell this was New York. I followed him, people noticed me. They told me to come back on the platform and stuff but I couldn't Samael was somewhere in these tunnels. I'd find him.

I expected the tunnels to be darker. I could still see with ease. I couldn't see Samael anywhere. I ran through the tunnel until I came to an intersection. I had no idea which one he went into. It seemed like he was miles ahead of me even though I had been sprinting after him ever since I saw him enter the tunnel. I was tired, I hadn't slept and this much excitement was bad for me with such tiny bit of sleep. I heard something move. It was lightning quick, I never got a good look at it. Was it Samael? That seemed impossible. He was never this quick. I heard something behind me and I turned around. The next thing I know I can't see, blood is dripping over my face and I'm on the ground. Whatever this thing was it had cut my face, I couldn't see a single thing. I got Shadow-edge from of my back. I tried to get up but I could barely stand, my legs were shaking so much. Blood was flowing all over my face. I was sure this wasn't Samael, I was also sure that whatever it was it was going to kill me. I couldn't see, I could barely stand, I thought I was done for. But this thing...it wanted to toy with me. I started hearing things. Voices...at first I couldn't make them out...then I started recognizing them.  
>"Look at you Michael. Crawling over the floor like an animal."<br>"Mom?" It was my mom's voice. It couldn't be her, she had been dead for years. But it was her voice. How could it be her?  
>"And you ask yourself why I killed myself. With a weak son like you any mother would."<br>"Is this what I protected?" The voice changed, another one I recognize.  
>"Pete? Pete is that you!" He had died just like my mom had. But it sounded so real. I couldn't see a thing...but it sounded so real.<br>"I should have left you out to hang. I protected you and then you get me killed! Why didn't you do for me what I did for you!"  
>"Pete it wasn't like that. I tried."<br>"Just like you tried to protect me?"  
>"Eve?" I still recognized her voice, even after all these years.<br>"Why did you have to fight William? If you hadn't been so violent I would still be alive! You killed me Michael!"  
>"No...no." Tears rolled over my face. They had been my family. And they died because of me. If I had been stronger, faster, better than they would still be alive. I failed the only family I ever had.<br>"Michael my son Do you remember me? I was the one who took you in remember?" The voice kept changing. I knew these weren't the people I had known, they were all dead.  
>"Father Patrick?" He was a good man. Given I used to be atheist I never agreed with his ideas on god but he was a wise man. A very kind wise man.<br>"Did you enjoy watching me burn? We helped you and you burnt our home. A devil with an Angel's name."  
>"Stop it!" Tears were mixing with blood. Something was toying with me. They had taken the things I worst regretted and turned them against me.<br>"You killed me Michael."  
>"I'm dead because of you!"<br>"How could you do this to me Michael?" All the voices went together. Sometimes I could barely make out who it was.  
>"I can see the stars, they're so pretty." I was breaking down. I felt guilt for what I did every second of the day but this...I couldn't take this. I wasn't strong enough to face something like this.<br>"Michael."  
>"No. Jake not you. Please not you."<br>"Why did you leave? If you hadn't pursued your personal vendetta we could have defeated Phthonos right there and then. All of this could have been avoided if you hadn't gone."  
>"Shut up!" I got to my feet and started swinging my sword aimlessly.<br>"You can't kill me Michael. You can't even forgive yourself. How do you want to beat me with all that guilt holding you back." It was Samael's voice. For a second I wondered if it had been Samael who did this. Maybe it was some kind of trick Phthonos taught him. I still swung around my sword aimlessly. I peeled my eye lids of each other. They were glued together by dried blood and it hurt to open them. Eventually I opened them just an inch. I saw two lights, coming towards me. It had giant speed and made an awful lot of noise. I was barely on time to jump out of the way. The subway nearly hit me, I could feel it, barely an inch away from me. When it passed there was complete silence. I heard nothing but the pounding of my own heart. I crawled back to my feet listening carefully. It was still here, it had to be. It had been so careful, so quiet. But now it slipped up. I heard it move behind me, I turned around and swung my sword. I felt it connect with something. I heard a horrible scream and felt dust cover me. Whatever it was...I killed it. I collapsed again, tears still rolling over my face. I was shaking, I had never been this scared, nor hated myself this much. I still couldn't see very well and the cuts on my face hurt horribly. I got my bag of my back and reached in. The flask of nectar had to be in there somewhere. I pulled out everything that didn't feel like the flask until I found it. I uncapped it, accidentally spilled some on the floor because I was shaking so much and drank. I could feel the cuts healing. I tried to open my eyes a bit further. It wasn't much but I could see. Blood was still covered my face but the pain was gone. I packed the bag (this time I put the nectar and ambrosia on top) and put it around my shoulders. There was a pile of dust in front of me. I wondered what monster it was. It didn't matter, it was dead now.


	21. Shadows of the Pitt

Chapter 21: Shadows of the Pitt

I followed the middle lane and after about fifteen minutes I got to the next stop. Everyone looked at me strangely, one woman even screamed. I didn't blame them. Someone walked from the tunnels covered in blood, it would be a strange sight. I quickly went into the bathroom and washed the blood of my face. There was so much blood, the cuts much have been deep. But there wasn't a single sign of a cut on my face. I was still amazed by this stuff. I was amazed to be alive. I thought I would die right there in that tunnel. Even though there was no cut I didn't look good though. I was tired and had black rings under my eyes. I was skinnier than usual and was pale as a ghost. It was weird how much I looked like the image of Samael I had seen. Maybe it was never Samael, maybe it was the monster messing with me and luring me into it's lair. Again I wondered what monster this was. I didn't know of any monster that could do things like this. I stood in front of that mirror thinking of every single monster that I knew of, none checked out. I didn't know that many monsters but the most dangerous I knew. I wasn't prepared for something like this. It took me ten more minutes before I dared to step out of the safety of the toilet. I hadn't been away from camp for a day and something had tried to kill me and mixed my emotions into a self pity and guilt double Sunday. It didn't predict much good for the rest of the trip.

On my way to grand central I watched everything that moved. I didn't trust anything any more. I was scared of another monster trying to kill me. Or Samael being around here. I was afraid that Maximus and Luke had encountered a monster or something worse. I wondered if they had gotten through the morning safer than I had. At the station I went straight to the platform we needed and waited. I was way early. The train left at one, we were meeting at 12, and I was there at 11:30. I stood there nervously. Being as skinny, pale and nervous as I was I must have looked like some kind of junky on withdrawal. I got even more nervous when it was 12 and neither Luke or Max had arrived. People were looking at me as if I was a dangerous criminal or something. I couldn't care less, these were strangers who didn't understand who I was and probably didn't care. I just wanted someone to get there. I was just about to go back to the main hall and see if anyone was there when I heard my name.  
>"Angel." I turned around top speed. I was still a bit anxious, not strange given what I had just been through. "Don't worry mate it's just me." Luke said.<br>"Sorry, just caught me by surprise is all." I knew I was on edge but it turned out I was even more on edge than I thought I was. I recognized Luke's voice by now but because of what happened in the subway I couldn't be sure about voices any more.  
>"Seems like something else caught you by surprise, what happened?" So I told him the story. He listened and nodded as if he was onto something and sometimes looked around the platform. I wondered if he was looking for Max or just randomly checking his surroundings.<br>"So do you have any idea what it was?" I asked. I had to know what I had encountered, and more so how probable it was that I would ever see one of those again.  
>"I have one idea, but some things don't check out." Luke said. "But I think it's a Leukrokottas, very rare around these parts. They're seen a lot around Mexico and the south of the country though. Very few are this strong though. They are fast but that's not what makes them so dangerous. They imitate human voices to lead people to them and then devour them. Mostly they imitate random voices like a girl screaming or something, something that attracts attention. There are a few that do more than that."<br>"Like go into someone's head and imitate the voices of the dead?"  
>"That's what it did with you. I know that back in the 17th century one nested in this small town in France. It drove everyone mad and killed half of the town in a few weeks. I think it was killed by some small time son of Zeus. I don't believe his name was even mentioned."<br>"So how many do you think it killed here?" I saw what it did to me. I couldn't imagine what it could do to people who weren't half god. What had happened to people waiting for their subway to arrive and heard voices in the shadows? I doubted that I wanted to know the exact number.  
>"Quite a few I guess, in a place like that it wouldn't be found easily and it obviously had a few talents. I think you did everyone a favour mate."<br>"Yeah I guess so." Given I had saved the New York public traffic but that didn't make me feel much better. What happened in those tunnels put me on edge. More so because Luke didn't seem very convinced on what this thing was. "What's bothering you. It was just another another Leukrokottas right?" I asked.

"That's the thing. There's too much that doesn't check out. Like I said they are rare around here. To be plain, this is the first one. It's too cold for them here. They like places were the sun shines bright. Their dens are usually in desserts and stuff. The south of Europe is all right for them but New York...in the subway tunnels? It doesn't seem like them. More so...the claws." What Luke said confused and feared me. I didn't know what a Leukrokottas was so I had no idea where it was supposed to live. But if it really wasn't a Leukrokottas then what was it?

"Claws?" I was pretty sure this thing had claws. How else could it have cut up my face that badly?

"Yeah, a Leukrokottas has hooves not claws. It just doesn't check out." I think this worried the both of us. If this wasn't anything we knew was it possible that this thing was completely new? It seemed impossible. It didn't predict much good for our quest. The first day and I already encountered something we didn't know. What else did we have to go up against?

It would be another half an hour before Maximus arrived. He was barely on time for the train. He was apologizing and stuff saying that he got lost. It was New York, easy to get lost but he had to go to Grand central, come on. The train was huge. I had never really travelled by train but this was definitely the biggest train I had ever seen. Our main luck was that not many people seemed to be travelling to Chicago today. The train was pretty much empty. The three of us had our own car. When we were in the train we started to check each others snack supplies. We had a lot of sodas, crisps and things like M&M's and snickers. Luke had filled half his bag with Reese's.  
>"Come on...you two don't love this things?" He said.<br>"They're all right...but half a bag?" I said. I liked Reese's even though I rarely had them. Back when I lived with my mom I used to have them and I had them once when I lived with Jake. I thought they were all right but Jake didn't buy them as he was allergic to nuts.  
>"Let me have one of them then." Max said. Luke handed him one of the packs he had and Luke looked at him with anticipation.<br>"You're gonna love this man, I lived on these things when I first came to America." After unwrapping the thing Maximus took his first bite. His eyes grew wide and a smile appeared on his face.  
>"Dude..." He swallowed before finishing his sentence. "You are so freaking, right these are awesome!" I had never seen Max this excited, actually I had never seen him get exited about anything. It was a first I doubted I would ever see happening.<br>"I know!" Luke and Max seemed to have found a mutual love for Reese's peanut butter cups. It was funny to see. I felt that it was good that they had something they shared. I trusted Max mostly because I could place myself in his shoes. I knew what kind of things he must have done. I was happy he decided to join us. But Luke took Max's betrayal a lot harder. Luke had been at camp a long time and cared about every demigod there. He had a problem trusting the former spy. For me seeing them together was hope for a good friendship.

Over the next hours we went through a lot of Reese's. It didn't take them long to convince me to have a few and they were awesome indeed. It wasn't that long of a ride to the first stop. Only about 6 hours. We left the train right after dinner (I've never had worse rice and chicken.) Pittsburgh was bigger than I thought it was. I had never been there before. When I travelled to New York last time I skipped past Pittsburgh. We decided again to go our separate ways even though I voted against. Luke just cracked a joke about staying away from subways and told Maximus to be on time and went off. I understood why he wanted some time alone. Max and I both knew that he had a few extra drachmas to Iris message Maria. There were times when I got the urge to see if I could get through to Samael with one of those. Sadly I had no idea how to make a rainbow in order to Iris message. Out of the three of us Luke was the only one that knew how to. Maximus never had to contact anyone back in his old life. When something was up Phthonos would come to him, other than that he was left to fend for himself. Even though Max seemed to have lightened up, I wondered where he went in New York, and where he went now. I wondered if there was a chance that he was meeting with Phthonos. After all now that he was travelling with us Phthonos had some use for him again. The same could be said about me though. I was strolling around town and I could be doing anything. Of course I wasn't doing much interesting. I was just walking in this park not too far away from the station. It was getting dark, it was about 8 PM after all. We'd spend all afternoon sitting on our asses. I was happy I got a chance to stretch my legs. I was simply walking around when I heard a familiar voice. I knew I shouldn't interrupt Luke and Maria while Iris messaging, it cost Luke a drachma after all. So I waited not far from where Luke had created his own little rainbow. I couldn't hear them, I didn't want to. I respected the both of them and this was the only chance they had to talk. When I saw Luke walking away from the bushes I figured he had made his call, now I could have a chat.  
>"You know, IM'ing in public can get you a ticket." Luke tensed up as if he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He turned around slowly with a face as red as a tomato.<br>"You didn't hear all that did you?" The question made me wish I had eavesdropped. I was curious what was so bad that I couldn't hear it.  
>"Don't worry, I didn't. That's why I sat away a bit." I said with a smile on my face. I should have said I heard everything just to mess with him but I thought that might go a bit too far. And Luke seemed a lot more relaxed after I said I hadn't heard a thing. He walked over and sat down next to me as his face turned back into it's normal complexion.<br>"Seriously dude we should stop sneaking up on each other when we're feeling jumpy." Luke said.  
>"Agreed." We just sat there for a minute, the weird thing was that it seemed to get darker every second. It was getting later of course but it didn't go this fast.<br>"Oh by the way I've got something to show you." Luke said as he reached into his pocket. Out of it he got a small black box, like one for rings.  
>"Sorry mate I don't take jewellery from friends." Luke slapped me on the back of the head. It didn't really hurt, I was happy he didn't do that with his bronze hand.<br>"It's for Maria you div." That's when I understood. I never thought it was for me, that was just a joke. But I didn't understand what it meant at first.  
>"You mean, you're getting married?" I couldn't believe that. Luke was only eighteen. They were quite young to marry. But it was logical given the life we led. Demigods weren't ones for long lives and if you were lucky enough to find true love in the time you have you had to take it. Luke and Maria truly loved each other so Luke was right to ask her to marry him, even if it was early for mortal standards. Mortals were so ungrateful of the long life they could lead. Of course they didn't all survive a hundred years but the chance of them dying the next day was smaller than for demigods. So few mortals lived their lives like every day was their last. It was a flaw of the world.<br>"Well if she says yes, and if I make it back." I was sure she would say yes, I didn't doubt that for a second. I think both of us doubted the answer to the question if he was coming back a lot more.  
>"I'll make sure that you return to her, even if it means I don't." I made that promise, and I was about to keep it. He had people waiting for him, and I was going to make sure those people would get to welcome him back.<br>"Don't get so dramatic man. We've been fine till now." That's how Luke jinxed it. Around us the world was turning black. We couldn't see a single thing, not at first anyway.  
>"Luke what's happening. Luke!" He was sitting next to me a second ago, but he was gone. I couldn't see him, nor hear him. Had he ever been here at all? I doubted everything I had been sure of just a second ago. The pure darkness...it scared me. That's when scary...turned into terrifying. I started seeing things in the shadows. Visions of anything that scared a person. Spiders, heights, tight spaces. Until I saw something that scared me personally. I saw Samael stand in front of me, barely two feet away from me stood the person I feared more than the god who we were trying to defeat. At first he just stood there but after a few seconds he pulled out a sword and slashed towards me. I wasn't quick enough to react, I closed my eyes and covered my head as if it would help. I stood like that what seemed to be hours. When I opened my eyes Samael was just standing there again. This shadow could scare me...but it couldn't hurt me. Not physically anyway. They were there to scare me to death and traumatize me for life. Everything seemed to want to mess with my head rather than kill me. When I stopped fearing the vision in front of me, it evolved. Samael's face changed, it reformed into someone else. That someone was me. I stood in front of myself, he had a sadistic smile on his face. Then I realized I wasn't standing there looking at myself...it was Colt.<br>"You're too weak to defeat him Angel. Phthonos will crush you with ease. If you want to defeat him you should ask me. I'm better than you Angel, I can do what you can't. Just let me in." I wondered if this really was Colt. He seemed more real than the vision of Samael and Colt spoke. Did these shadows give Colt his own body? Was that even possible?  
>"I'll die before I do that Colt. You're a monster and if I'm your cage so be it. I'll never let you go out again, I'll never let you hurt anyone!" That's when he disappeared. I had faced my fear, and beaten it. That's how I thought the illusions worked anyway. I started to be able to see a bit too. For some reason my eyes didn't really seem to be bothered by darkness, even when it was this pure. I could see Luke now, and hear him. The illusions had blocked me off completely but now that I had beaten it I could see. Luke was seeing things too. He was sitting on his knees with tears rolling over his cheeks.<br>"I'll kill you Mack! I swear I'll kill you!" He screamed. A lot of questions rose to my mind. Who was Mack?  
>"Luke! Snap out of it, it's not real." I yelled. He ignored me, or he didn't hear me.<br>"It's real to him Michael." A voice said in my head. It was a deep voice but it didn't sound sinister, nor kind. It was an emotionless, but ancient voice.  
>"Phthonos?" I asked. It was the first name that popped into my head. The only person that was powerful enough to conjure up something like this.<br>"Phthonos?" The voice laughed. "He's a god my boy but he's hardly capable of something like this." That raised the question who this thing was. And more so how powerful he was. Apparently...he wasn't one of the weak.  
>"Let Luke go! Whoever you are you let him be!" I said. I didn't think it would listen but it was worth a shot.<br>"So defensive about your companions. He's got his own demons to face Michael. He's going to have to get through them himself."  
>"Screw you!" I started making my way to Luke. It was hard to, the shadows seemed to slow me down. When I reached him I started shaking him around, he didn't seem to notice. "Luke whatever you're facing, it's not real. Don't let it get to you." I tried. For some reason, his expression seemed to change. He looked straight at me, I didn't know why but he had broken through somehow.<br>"I saw...I saw her die." The shadows around us disappeared. I saw the park, the sky, the dim light of the stars. In front of us stood a man. He was middle aged, black hair, a scruffy black beard and was hooded. He was wearing all black clothes. All ripped up and old, he looked more like a homeless person than anything else. His eyes were the strangest though, his iris' were nearly as black as his pupils. Like mine.  
>"Who are you?" I asked. The man stood there, with a slight smile on his face.<br>"I'm impressed Michael, I didn't think you'd break through the illusion so easily." He kept calling me Michael. My actual name, one I didn't like using any more.  
>"Why did you do that!" Whoever this guy was. He was a complete and utter bastard. He put Luke through hell. He only seemed to be coming by now. His expression seemed a little less blank anyway.<br>"I had to test you Michael, you're going up against a power far greater than yourself. You need to be prepared for far worse than this."  
>"Then test me! Leave my friends out of this!" The man chuckled a bit. I glared at him but he didn't seem to mind.<br>"Your friends are as far into this as you are." He said. Luke crawled up to his feet. He seemed like he was going to be sick, but that was still better than before.  
>"You didn't answer me before. Who are you?" I asked again. He still stood there with the same smile.<br>"His name is Erebus, god of darkness and shadows." Luke said. I looked at him with a surprising look, I didn't expect him to say anything. "And he's your father." Especially not that. What I knew of being claimed was that something appeared above a demigods head. I looked up praying that there was nothing there. What I saw was three tendrils of darkness. Apparently that was the seal of Erebus. I looked back at my father. He still smiled. On my hand something appeared. A black fingerless glove, with Angel written on the back, and Colt in the palm.  
>"Call on me in the shadows, and you will not be seen." Erebus said. "Now show me your sword." He said. I was stunned at this, but I did as he asked. I pulled out shadow-edge, a name that seemed more fitting now than ever. He walked over to me and tapped the blade with his finger. The blade turned pure black and it seemed to be...smaller. It kept turning smaller until I wasn't holding a sword, but a black Zippo lighter. "A lot easier to carry, no? It works as a lighter as well, it might need gas though." I just nodded. "Now I must be off." He started walking into a shadow he just created. "By the way. Happy sixteenth birthday." He had obviously timed this perfectly. 8:32 PM July 14th. Just after the sun went down. I was born exactly sixteen years ago. He decided to claim me at this exact moment. I guess it was quite special that he chose such a moment but to me it was still sixteen years too late.<br>"Dad wait!" He was already gone. It seemed to be something the gods enjoyed to do. I stood there for a second stunned because of what just happened. I held shadow-edge in my hand in lighter form anyway. I shook my head to break out of all the confusion and turned to Luke. "Are you all right?"  
>"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." Luke said. "Why didn't you say it was your birthday?" Luke never knew what to prioritise. His mental health versus my birthday. Apparently he chose birthday. A dumb choice especially since there wasn't even going to be a party.<br>"Are you sure? You seem a bit out of it mate." Luke nodded, he refused to show any kind of damage but we both knew he wasn't in the best of shapes. "It wasn't important. It doesn't matter if I'm sixteen today." I said. I never was one for birthdays. The last few years I hadn't celebrated them, just another day to me.

"It is important man, it's sixteen." Luke said as he sat down on the bench. He still looked bad but I think he was feeling better. "You know, you should be getting your first car now. I should be voting for our next president. But here we are. We don't get those luxuries" Luke said. I think every demigod wished for a different life. But none of us got it, we weren't born to be normal. "You should get back to the station. I'll go find Max and meet you there." Luke said. I doubted for a minute but then I nodded. If it was what he wanted I'd go on ahead. I took my first few steps when Luke stopped me. "'Angel...congrats on the claiming and happy birthday I guess." I smiled and nodded. I left Luke in the park. I saw him sit down on the bench for a minute. He was more spooked than I was. I wonder what he saw. Whatever it was it was bad. I figured I best did what he said. I made my way back to the station. I wondered why Erebus had to do this. Maybe he didn't think I could do this. It didn't matter what he thought. I'd stop Phthonos, if he doubted me, I'd show him. I'd show him that I was stronger than Colt, and that I was brave enough to face my fears. I'd show him that he didn't make a mistake by having a son. I would prove that I hadn't been a mistake.


	22. Boosting Cars

Chapter 22: Boosting cars

I waited on the station alone, the same way I had earlier that day. But much had changed since then. I had a father now, or I had met him. So much had been explained now. Why I was always a person that was more active at night, the shadows were my territory, so the night was my time to be alive. I knew why I could see in the dark and why I felt better hiding in the shadows than laying in the sun. I understood things about myself now that I had no clue of. Being the son of Erebus made sense. But that it made sense, didn't mean that I liked it. For one the guy was a bastard, and being the son of the god of darkness didn't really seem like I had much choice but to be evil. All those things didn't bother me as much as another though...why didn't he help me before? I knew that very few demigods got help from their parents but I had been through so much shit. When I lived on the streets he didn't bother helping me, when I went down the path of a murderer he didn't show me the right path. The first time I met him he decided to test me, how could he do that? He wasn't much of a father. None of the gods seemed like role model parents but after Phthonos, Erebus must have been the worst. As I sat on the bench silently hating my father I dozed off. It was one of those naps when it seems like nothing but a blink. I closed my eyes and what seemed like barely a second I opened them an hour later. Luke just came walking on the platform with Max. Max didn't look too well. I got up and got to them as fast as possible.  
>"What happened?" We sat Max down on a bench, he wasn't bleeding or anything but he seemed very out of it. His look was dazed and he didn't seem to be able to keep himself standing.<br>"We ran into a Cyclops, tough buggers to kill." Luke said. "Max got hit pretty hard. He should be fine though, he had some ambrosia." Max had an empty stare in his eyes. I wondered if he could have some kind of brain damage. I hoped not. It would explain that the ambrosia didn't work though. Once the brain got messed up there was little ambrosia could do. "Come on, we'll get him on the train." Max barely stood on his feet without help. In front of the doors of the train stood a man in a blue uniform. The uniform alone made me promise myself that I would never work at a train station.  
>"Sorry kids, you can't board." He said.<br>"Wait what? Look man we have our tickets and everything." I said. This train was vital to our planning. If we couldn't get to Chicago we were screwed  
>"The train isn't leaving today. We have some technical issues. If you talk to someone at the desk they'll show you some hotels. The next train leaves in two days."<br>"Two days! We need to get to Chicago tomorrow." Our plane to Los Angeles left in the late afternoon, this train needed to ride!  
>"Then I suggest you hitch-hike or rent a car. The train isn't leaving." This guy got on my nerves. Not long ago I would have hit him right there and then but that wasn't me any more. I controlled my self now. We got Max back to the bench and sat down ourselves.<br>"Now what?" I asked. With Maximus like this we could hardly travel on foot and hitch-hiking didn't seem like a good idea to me. There were some bad people out there, that or I had seen too many movies.  
>"We have to get out of here and try to get to Chicago as fast as possible." Luke said.<br>"On foot it would take at least a week to get to Chicago. How much money do we have left?" I asked. Maybe we could rent a car but it wasn't in our plan so probably not in our budget either.  
>"About 150" That wasn't enough.<br>"Is that enough to rent us a car?" But I had to ask.  
>"Not even close." I knew we were screwed. We had one plan, and it failed. It would take us ages to get to Chicago and from there we wouldn't even be half way. There was no way we were going to get to Los Angeles like this.<br>"Give me a minute, I'll be back in a second." Luke got up and walked off. I sat there for about ten minutes before he came back. He came back with a silver Toyota Celica. Not very cheap car, and not one Luke could have just gotten out of no where.  
>"Where did you get the car?" When a friend of yours pulls up in a silver Celica which looks pretty much perfect you start to think: is this entirely legal?<br>"Doesn't matter, just put Max in the back and leave." Luke seemed anxious. I knew how he got the car. I didn't know he knew how to boost a car but apparently he did. I shouldn't have been surprised. He was the son of Hephaestus and as far as I knew he was the guy that invented the first auto mobile. We put Max in the back seat and drove off. Some people turned their heads but in the end we got out of there without trouble.

Luke and I didn't speak a word for an hour or so. Luke was a pretty good driver. No one would notice that he was an unlicensed driver. I figured it was all part of being a son of Hephaestus.  
>"So how did you learn how to boost a car?" I asked after a while. We were on the highway, at this time of night it was pretty dead. Max was still on the back seat, he had fallen asleep not long after we left Pittsburgh.<br>"Son of Hephaestus, I know a lot of handy tricks." Luke said as he shifted gears. The car was manual shifting, Luke didn't seem to be very used to that but he was driver like pro.  
>"Who's Mack?" I asked. I knew I shouldn't pry but I heard him scream that he was going to kill the guy so I was curious. If Luke hated a person enough to want to kill him it had to be a pretty bad guy. I couldn't imagine Luke hating someone that bad. Of course I didn't know Luke as well as I thought I did.<br>"Never heard of someone named Mack." Luke wasn't a very good liar.  
>"Bullshit. Back when we met Erebus, you said you were going to kill him." Luke doubted for a second. Eventually he started talking.<br>"Back in England, I met this guy with a broken car. I was quite handy with the technical stuff you know. I fixed his car within seconds. I asked him for a ride and the guy told me he robbed a bank and that I had just fixed his get away car. His name was Mack, and he was part of a gang." Luke's story was more interesting than I thought, and it didn't seem at all like the Luke I knew. "Not long after I joined the gang. Burned down abandoned buildings as a distraction. It was easy, fun and no one got hurt."  
>"I didn't figure you for a pyromaniac Luke." I said.<br>"I used to be. I burned down quite a few schools and can still make some half decent explosives. That's actually what got me in to the gang. Anyway I digress. One time they asked me to burn down a suburban house, it didn't feel right but the people were supposed to be on vacation so what the hell.. When I set it on fire, I saw someone there. A young girl, barely old enough to go to school. I saw her in the house I had just set a blaze." I could see that Luke beat himself up about it. I guess he should, what he had done was pretty bad. Then again, I had done much worse. I wasn't one to talk. "I went inside, pulled her out. The firemen called me a hero and everything. Sadly the girl wasn't the only on in the house. Her parents they were dead. I believe she's in an orphanage near Liverpool now. Not really sure. Anyway after that with a little persuasion from a friend I left the gang." Luke said. "Over the time I was with them I also learned how to boost cars, there's your story." Luke didn't want to tell the rest. But it wasn't over. The way he told the story made it seem as if he left the gang on good terms. And I highly doubted that he meant that he watched the girl die earlier that evening.  
>"I'd like the whole story Luke." He looked at me with intense rage. He didn't like to be pushed into telling this. My guess was not many people knew this story. But he told me this much, I had to know it all.<br>"Fine, you know you pry too much." I shrugged. I had to know what happened. "The gang didn't really let me leave so easily. They sent Mack after me not long after I walked out on them. He came up to me as a friend and shot me right in the chest. After I recovered I went back to school with a girl name Rose. The same girl who persuaded me to leave the gang. She turned out to be a satyr and told me the same old bogus story you were probably told."  
>"What the good old: you know the Greek gods?" I asked.<br>"It's such a cliché, if I ever tell anyone about who they are I'm going to think of something original." He never actually did think of something else to say. Maybe he forgot about it, maybe he couldn't think of something original, I never really asked. "Anyway after we faked my own death."  
>"Wait you faked your own death?" This seemed to be the most amazing part of the story yet.<br>"Will you let me talk?" He said slightly annoyed. "Anyway we got to New York and went to camp. Well I did, she never made it."  
>"Sorry to hear that." I said. I knew what it was like to lose a friend, it was tough even after years. Luke didn't say anything about that though. He just continued his story.<br>"About a year ago, Mack came looking for me. He abducted Maria and got me to come after him. He's also the one that gave me this." Luke raised his bronze hand. "You want to hear a funny thing about me screaming that I would kill him? I already did." That was a shock. I didn't think Luke was capable of that, even if Maria's life was in danger. I just didn't think he could. "I stabbed him, at least five times. I was so angry. We were friends and he stabbed me in the back, and on top of that he tried to kill Maria. I couldn't control myself." Even though I hadn't dreamed that he could do something like that I felt like that Mack deserved what he got. He was obviously one lousy human being.  
>"Revenge is ugly mate. I know what it's like. It eats you up inside doesn't it? Even after all he did, you can't let it go." It was a subject I knew all too much about.<br>"I wish I could back time. I wish I had been able to just get him to leave me alone." I had never seen Luke like this. He seemed so sad. Usually he was the one guy you could expect to keep on smiling. But not now. "Mind taking the wheel for a bit? I'm quite tired." I didn't know how to drive, but how hard could it be? I knew most things. I knew what every pedal was, how to switch lights, when to switch gears. I was very good at the theoretical part of driving but I had never actually driven. Back when I was growing up in the orphanage every male orphan dreamed about driving a car later. The ultimate freedom to get away from that hellish place. So we all knew everything there was to know about cars ever since we were ten. It took me a while to actually get the hang of it but after a while I was fine. I wasn't tired unlike Luke. I'd sleep on the plane. We had more than enough time to get to Chicago. In a stolen car perhaps but when trying to save the world you had to make some sacrifices. After about four more hours of driving Maximus woke up. He seemed a lot better after some sleep. Luke was still miles away. Probably dreaming about being back at camp half-blood. That was my guess anyway. After having a drink and something to munch on Maximus started to talk.  
>"So why are we in a car?" He asked.<br>"Luke got it. The train wasn't going anywhere."  
>"Luke can boost cars?" Sometimes it was weird how much Max and I were alike. I asked the exact same question, and that seemed to happen more often.<br>"Son of Hephaestus, he knows some handy tricks." I wasn't going to tell Maximus the story Luke told me. It wasn't my place to tell Maximus something like that. Maximus unlike me just shrugged. Of course he hadn't heard Luke scream out: 'I'll kill you' to some hallucination.  
>"I guess." He said as he dropped himself back into the seat. "Yo want me to take over for a while?" Maximus asked.<br>"Do you know how to drive?"  
>"Did you think I walked all over the country running errands for Phthonos?" So we switched places. Maximus took the wheel and I went to crash on the back seat. Now that I could lay my head down I noticed how tired I really was. I hadn't slept in two days now. I could still function even with so little sleep but these too days had really taken it out of me. I was happy that I could catch some shut eye.<p>

My dream was even worse than the usual one. What I saw was Samael walking around in a hotel hallway. I figured it was a hotel anyway. There were doors with numbers, room numbers in my opinion. Samael stopped in front of door 316. He stood there for a second, I wondered if he was doubting about something. Eventually he kicked in the door and walked inside the hotel room. There was a girl there, only about 9 years old. She was wearing a white dress and had a pendant in the shape of an owl. The exact same pendant that Jake had, the pendant that turned into Messor.  
>"You're here for the pendant aren't you?" The girl said.<br>"Just give it to me and I won't have to hurt you."  
>"You know I'm not going to give it away. So are you going to hurt me?" The girl sat there looking at Samael without a single sign of fear. She just sat there without moving. I wondered if the girl was even human.<br>"I think I'll have to. It's not really my decision." Samael seemed so different than I remembered him. He seemed to hate what he was doing while when I knew him he seemed so sadistic and evil.  
>"You always have a choice. You just turned your back on who you are to get your revenge. And now you've become a thing that you hate." The girl seemed to know everything about Samael. I didn't understand what she meant though. Only now I realized how little I knew about Samael. I hated him so much but I had no idea who he was. All I knew was a face and an obvious alias.<br>"They abandoned me! They were my friends and they left me for dead. I deserve my revenge." Samael seemed so human like this. I always thought of him as a monster more than a man, but now I was proven wrong.  
>"Then do what you have to." Samael doubted for a second, and then he pulled his sword and struck the girl down. His face went black, no emotion any more. He bowed down, pulled the pendant of the girl and opened it. The pendant turned into a dagger, was this Messor? Samael inspected the blade and then cut his own hand with it. Blood dripped from his palm, the cut was deep. Samael looked at the blade again, and then threw it away. That's when he started with another thing. He collected everything that was flammable and put them on one heap. He got a small canteen of lighter fluid out of his pocket and sprayed it on the heap and around the room. Out of his pocket he got a match box, he got a match, lit it and threw it on the heap. It burned so quickly. Samael walked out of the room like nothing happened. Leaving behind what he had just killed for. And that's when I realized. Samael was looking for Messor. But why? Phthonos already had it. Unless Jake had a fake, and now Samael was tracking the real one. Phthonos didn't have the real Messor. The real one was still out there...<p> 


	23. Route 666

Chapter 23: Route 66(6)

When I woke up I felt sick. What I had seen was horrible. The only good thing was that if that dream was recent, Phthonos didn't have Messor yet. That gave us a little more time. Maybe enough to get to Hades and get some sort of help. I wondered if he would help us, and what help he could offer. He had to be willing to help, after all Phthonos killed his daughter. I figured Hades had to have some kind of feelings for her. Maybe not, he was the lord of the dead. Maybe his heart had grown as cold as the corpses of the dead. If so...we were screwed. Without Hades' help we couldn't defeat Phthonos. There was no way the three of us could stand against a god. We could probably defeat Samael, one of us would. But Phthonos, no way.  
>"Look, I get that you're happy that Phthonos isn't very far in ending the world but where does that leave us? Do we find the dagger before here does or defeat him or what? Look man we never really had a clue what this was all about and now what we did know has been messed up." Luke and Max didn't show much enthusiasm to the fact that we still had time. Luke had a point no doubt about it, but a point I didn't agree to.<br>"Nothing has changed. I mean the prophecy still says that we go to Hades. Only it means that we have some more time to do all this." I said. Ever since we left I was afraid that Phthonos would have unleashed a titan juiced up Samael before we even got to Los Angeles. But now there seemed to be hope that we could beat him before he killed all of us. So to me there was a sense of relief.  
>"Look man, I don't know if we should. I mean Hades isn't a good friend of the demigod species and going there is really a last resort." Luke said. To me there was no question. Athena told me to go to him for help and even though he wasn't the nicest of immortals he had to help us. If Athena believed he would, I believed it. But the others weren't that naïve. I was still in between hating and worshipping the gods while they had less love for the gods. They knew that there was a chance that what Athena told me wasn't all true. I on the other hand trusted her word. The gods were new to me and she had shown in interest in what was happening in the world and she was Jake's patron. I didn't see a reason why I shouldn't trust her. <p>

It would take a few more hours to get to Chicago. But we made it. We were exactly on time to meet Maria's dad. Now when you had to steal a car to be on time for a plane and find out you're not getting the tickets...you get kinda mad.  
>"What do you mean you don't have our tickets?" I said. Luke didn't say much. This was his father in law sort of, he couldn't really say anything stupid. I on the other hand wasn't really held back by anything.<br>"Didn't Maria tell you? I told her yesterday evening that I can't afford it. These tickets cost a fortune." For Luke's sake, I didn't punch the guy in the face. But oh I wanted to. We were counting on the tickets and they just weren't here.  
>"Damn it!" I didn't even care to say goodbye. I just walked off. I didn't really care about being friends with Maria' dad. Maria didn't like me why would her dad? I was only supposed to pick up the tickets and walk off. Maximus and Luke even stayed in the car. When I got back to the Celica I punched it so hard I nearly broke my hand.<br>"Dude! Watch the car." Luke said as if he paid thousands for it.  
>"It's a stolen car...what do you care?"<br>"Well..." Luke had to think about this one. I figured it was just because it was a pretty sweet ride and even though it wasn't actually his he kinda liked it. "what if we want to bring it back?"  
>"Trust me, if we bring it back the guy who owns it is going to be happy enough with it being back with a dent then not being back at all." And even though I got a good punch...I barely even left a dent. My hand hurt like hell though I couldn't really show that.<br>"I guess." Luke said as I got in shotgun. Maximus had taken his place on the back seat again after Luke took over the wheel.  
>"Seriously you two? What about the freaking tickets?" Maximus didn't really care about the car obviously.<br>"No luck, he doesn't have them."  
>"What?" Maximus said. For some reason Luke didn't seem all too surprised.<br>"Luke tell me you didn't know." Now I also figured out why Luke was so freaked out when he saw me after Iris Messaging Maria.  
>"I knew." I felt like punching the car again, or Luke I didn't really care either way.<br>"What else didn't you tell us?" I was furious. Luke knew that we were going to Chicago for nothing. We could have gone towards LA instead of move towards the north first. We wouldn't have wasted this time.  
>"There's a motel with a spare room just outside Tulsa Oklahoma."<br>"Tulsa Oklahoma?" It took me a few seconds to realize. I knew where Oklahoma was, I knew where Tulsa was. Chicago to LA. That's when I had it. "You want to take route 66? You want to take route 66 aka the highway to hell while we're going to the underworld? Are you trying to jinx this?" I asked. It didn't seem very smart to challenge sods law like that. What's sods law? If you take the train with a ticket everyday and only get checked one out of ten times and then you ride without a ticket one time. That day you'll get checked. You can't beat sod's law, you can't challenge it, it's a supernatural force that can't be destroyed, fear sod's law!  
>"Why not? A lot of people travel over route 66. It's like a bucket list thing." Luke said in his defence.<br>"Most people aren't going to the underworld!" Yes I'm kind of superstitious about these kind of things. It wasn't smart to take route 66 on a travel like this...I knew it wasn't.  
>"Well actually." Maximus seemed to have found a reason to interrupt. "On a long enough time line everyone dies so wherever one is going in the end everyone is headed for the underworld." Luke and I stared at Maximus for about a minute before he seemed to realize that what he said was kinda weird.<br>"Do you see the good in anything?"  
>"So depressing sometimes."<br>"What? It's simple logic." He tried. So we left for Tulsa Oklahoma, route 66. Even though I was against it I figured if we were in Chicago might as well take the road to hell. And hell at least I could say I took route 66 all the way, stripe that off my bucket list.

Getting to Tulsa was about 12 hours. We switched off driving every hour or so. Luke seemed to enjoy driving the most. Real son of Hephaestus I guess. After we all had two turns we stopped at a road restaurant to grab something to eat and just chill out for a minute. It was three PM and in the real world people were working or enjoying their summer. Here we were making a possible one way trip to hell. During lunch we barely even talked. We just ate our lunch and were happy to be out of a moving vehicle for a while. The restaurant had a little store section selling DVD's and CD's. The truth was we didn't really have any tunes in the car. So I had a look. I had no idea what music the others listened to, I wasn't even sure if Maximus listened to music ever. He was pretty much raised by Phthonos and if he listened to any kind of music it would be when you're evil by Voltaire. There were loads of CD's I liked, Metallica, Rise against, Black Sabbath. That's when I saw it. A little yellow plate saying 'sale' in red letters. 'Every CD for two bucks, 10 for 10.' Now if you're a music geek like me and you see that plate and have ten dollars in your pocket...you freak. So before I knew it I had ten albums in my hand and went to the counter when a voice called me.  
>"Hey Angel? Do you still have that ten bucks?" I knew I had to give the money...it was team money. But the albums...I had to have the albums. The girl at the counter looked at me with a sly smile. Not a smile like: just buy those albums already but : if you're not buying them I'm going to kill you, if you do I'm going to do the same. It seemed like a bad way to sell. But there was something weird about it other than the obvious lack of selling skills. She seemed to be different than what I believed. I looked at her for a long time, staring I guess. And the more I looked the less human she seemed. I looked until she didn't look human at all, that's about when she tried to kill me. From out of no where the broom that was standing not far from the counter had turned into a spear and this thing was trying to kill me. At first she looked like a totally normal girl now I was fighting some half woman half snake thing. Other than the freakish yellow eyes her top half was normal, her bottom was freak of the year award nominee though. Instead of legs she had two snake trunks. Now things like that were quite common with monsters but this was pretty new to me. Now with two snake trunks instead of legs you don't expect a thing to be too fast. Sadly this thing was. She moved lightning quick and I had a hard time dodging her attacks. She didn't even give me a chance to reach into my pocket and get my lighterweapon out. I looked a cross the room to find Luke and Maximus fighting their own problem. Another monster was trying to kill them, these things killed in teams. In that split second my random mind wondered if they made a sport out of it. Maybe this was a very important match for the championships. When something is trying to poke you with a spear these thoughts don't linger for long. When I got one moment of free time because of throwing a plate at the thing I reached into my pocket and took out the black Zippo otherwise known as Shadow-edge. I held the sword in my hand and charged the monster. Dumb idea since I had never fought anyone with a spear. As soon as I came within 6 feet I was in stabbing range. I side rolled, ducked and jumped and it kept me alive but not very close to this thing. I had to get close very quickly. When she stabbed at my head I ducked and as fast as I could I toed forwards and drilled Shadow-edge straight through her chest. Like any monster it disintegrated into dust, very rewarding. Luke and Max had also dealt with their monster...although they had been a little faster than I had.  
>"You know usually when you're finished killing your monster you help a fellow demi out." I said still panting.<br>"Usually yeah, but come on it was only a Dracanae. No big." Luke said. Of course to me this thing had been quite a challenge...maybe I wasn't as much of a fighter as I thought I was or Luke acted like these things were easier to kill than I thought.  
>"Yeah no big...wait now that there are no clerks can we take a couple of albums?"<p>

The rest of the trip was what others would call boring. The music didn't change, the scenery didn't change and we ran out of road trip game on the first halve of the trip. To Luke and Max it was boring. I was happy to have some peace and quiet. No things trying to kill me, no need to watch my back no Luke trying to get my backpack because there were still some Reese's in it. While driving we kept the back packs in the trunk which we greatly regretted whenever one of us felt like a snack. For me the remaining hours were nice and calm. When I wasn't driving I was sleeping. I knew that this serenity in the car wouldn't last long. And soon I would end up not sleeping at all again so might as well sleep as much as I could. I was actually pretty amazed when we reached the motel without getting attacked. Of course I was also amazed that this motel was still in business. The lobby looked like any motel but the bear sized guy behind the desk looking like he hadn't taken a shower in months.  
>"Room for three please." Luke said. The guy looked at him with dull eyes and snorted. He turned back to the wall with keys and picked number 19.<br>"It's thirty a night, take the stairs at the end of the hall." We did what the guy said. The room was simple but nothing more than we needed. The thing was though there was one bed with a top and bottom bunk and one king sized bed.  
>"Dibs on the king sized!" We all said something like that. That's when we all started pushing and pulling to get to the bed first. Luke eventually got his backpack on it, he had the bed.<br>"Bottom bunk." Max said.  
>"I wanted top anyway." Being near the roof seemed better than sleeping underneath someone else.<br>"Look guys. Maybe I'm saying this cause I have the good bed." Both me and Max looked at Luke with a 'I'll kill you if you say that again' look. "But I say we get an early night. If we drive through the night we'll be in Los Angeles the day after tomorrow." Even though we didn't like how he started his story he was right. Max and Luke were asleep pretty quick, I on the other hand was not. I knew why, son of Erebus the night was my time to be up. Sadly civilization didn't agree with me. I wondered if all children of Erebus, Nyx and Hades had this problem. Maybe it was just me. I didn't know, what I did know was that I wasn't going to get to sleep at the moment. I took the keys and walked downstairs. The guy was still standing behind the counter with the same dull look. I went outside and walked to the Celica. The night was dark, barely any stars and I couldn't find the moon anywhere. I sat on the hood of the Celica with a can of coke and just waited for me to grow tired or for dawn to wake the others.  
>"Angel, want a real drink?"<br>"Max?" When I left the room I was sure he had been asleep. Either I woke him up or he wasn't asleep at all. Either way he sat next to me and passed me a beer.  
>"How did you get this?" I had beer before and if you knew where to look it wasn't tough to get when you were under 21. But I knew Max wasn't 21 so I just wondered.<br>"Does this place look like it has many customers? The guy didn't even ask me for ID." I shrugged. If he didn't ask then he didn't need to know.  
>"In that case, cheers."I hadn't had beer in a while. But at times like these it tasted pretty good. "So what's on your mind mate?" I asked him.<br>"Nothing really." He lied.  
>"Come on. You're seventeen I'm sixteen, you wouldn't pass me a beer unless you had something to talk about."<br>"Look, I know Luke's been talking about driving in one time but I want to go to Oklahoma city tomorrow."  
>"Why? Want to have a good old Oklahoma barbecue?" I got hit on the back of the head for that. No one seemed to find my jokes funny any more.<br>"About two months ago not long before I came to camp Phthonos told me to get this package to the bank. I think I knew what was in there but I can't remember. I think it has something to do with Messor though." I doubted for a second. It seemed kind of weird to me. I thought it was better to go to Los Angeles but if Max thought it was important I should give it a shot.  
>"Okay. Can you get the package without Phthonos?"<br>"It was put on my name...well one of them."  
>"One of them?" I should have known that he had some aliases. I mean raised by Phthonos and usual killer, thief and what not. He would have needed some good aliases.<br>"Yeah...I have like ten." Maximus said.  
>"Ten? That's quite impressive." I said. "Do you ever forget them?"<br>"All the time." We chuckled a bit. It wasn't funny enough to laugh about but we had to take everything that was slightly funny and try to laugh. The road was still long and the laughs might disappear.  
>"So is it weird? Travelling with us trying to defeat Phthonos?" I had wanted to ask him this for a while. I never really had the chance, not that I thought anyway.<br>"I guess so. I mean I have known the guy for ten years give or take. I can barely remember how you got me into this."  
>"I beat you up in the woods." That wasn't actually true.<br>"You were the one that was on the ground."  
>"I thought you didn't remember?"<br>"I don't remember losing." This wasn't going anywhere.  
>"We're getting off topic." I said.<br>"Look just let it go Angel. It's not important." I wanted to keep asking but in the end I did as he asked. Not long after that he went back up, I didn't go until after three AM. Luke hadn't even noticed we had been awake that night. He woke up in the morning, woke us up and we left.

"Why do you want to go to Oklahoma? Seriously what is there that's so important?" Luke really didn't like the idea. He thought the faster we moved to Los Angeles the better. No more stops longer than an hour seemed best in his opinion.  
>"I can't remember for sure." Maximus said. He seemed honest enough.<br>"Then how are you sure that it's important?" They kept arguing like that. I kept myself out of it. I thought it wouldn't do much harm to go to Oklahoma City. I just sat there looking outside of the window when I saw a big black SUV near us. Route 66, the highway to hell. Known for the most traffic related accidents in America. Of course this wasn't an accident. I can't really remember the collision itself. Just the car nearing and then our car being upside down. I don't know if I blacked out or just suppressed the memory. Either way when I regained my senses I felt horrible. My head was turning, my sight was blurry and my whole body hurt. I didn't know how the others were, but I knew I had to get them out. Someone else had other ideas. I got pulled out of the car by what a first believed was a helpful soul. Instead the person that I saw, and the person that had tried to kill us, was Samael.  
>"Hey Michael."<br>"Samael?" I could barely speak. I was in so much pain.  
>"I can't really kill you yet. Daddy dearest says he needs you for something. Seems like bullshit to me. You can barely stand after a simple collision. Anyway, just thought you'd want to know that I'm right behind you. Nighty night." The next thing I felt was the bottom of his shoe in my face. Then everything turned black. I didn't know if the others were alive, I didn't know if I was alive, not for sure anyway. One thing I knew for sure, never take route 66 on a road trip to the underworld.<p> 


	24. Oklahoma City

Chapter 24: Oklahoma City

I was the last to wake up, probably because of the kick to the face Samael gave me. We all got off pretty well considering what just happened to us. We were sitting by a group of tree's not far from where the bashed up Toyota Celica lay. We had been pretty lucky. Luke's head had hit the side mirror pretty hard and the left side of his face was layered with dried blood. The wound had gone thanks to the magical works of Ambrosia and Nectar. It was remarkable that when you were quick enough a would be fatal wound would barely leave a scar. Luke leaned against a tree and looked at the stars with a vacant expression it seemed that even though his wounds had healed the shock was still there. I didn't think any of us had been in a car crash before. It probably was no different from any other victim of route 66. One moment you're just driving home or to family and the next your car is flipping over, bouncing over the highway like a tennis ball. Max had gotten off with a few cuts and bruises. The air bag probably saved his skin. He was the one that dragged me to my current location and the only one of the three of us that didn't pass out. I myself felt blood streaming over my face, I wasn't sure if that was from the kick or from the crash itself. Other than my face my left wrist hurt terribly. I could barely move it and was afraid that it was broken. My vision was blurry and everything seemed to go in slow motion. I had gotten used to these things. I had nearly died a few times now, seemed to be kind of normal these days. There was a thing worse than the pain though, the fear. I was afraid of dying, afraid of standing in front of Phthonos with the intention of challenging him, but more than anything I was afraid of Samael. And now he was right on our track. Maybe he had been following us from the start. I wondered if I really saw him in New York and if he led me into the monster's lair. One thing bothered me though. Why didn't he just kill me? Maybe it really was because Phthonos had plans for me but that wouldn't explain the fact that he didn't finish Luke and Max off. It made me wonder if Samael wasn't who I thought he was. I remembered him as a killer without remorse or any human emotion what so ever but the dream proved otherwise. And now this...was Samael truly that bad? Maybe I was being stupid. After all I had seen Samael do some horrible things...a few times that he didn't go for the kill or showed a sense of remorse for his actions didn't change any of that. I didn't tell Luke or Maximus about my thoughts. Maybe it was easier to hate the enemy than to feel bad for him. I didn't really know, personally I didn't really know what it meant to be a good guy. Looking at my past I hadn't done anything that made me a good person. This was the only thing, this was my redemption.

It was about an hour before we started moving towards Oklahoma city on foot. There was little time for delay. It would take us a few hours, we were at least another 30 miles away from the city. If we had a half decent pace it would have taken us half the time it did but because of the crash we were strolling more than walking. We were all in pain and I don't know about the others but I was scared. Phthonos was our enemy, Samael was stalking us a every turn and then there were the monsters. It didn't really look good for us. We walked just of the road. Walking on the highway didn't seem like a smart idea but using the road was the easiest way to get to the city. After about an hours walk we ended up at a plate saying: Oklahoma city 31. I thought it would take us at least a day at our pace. After a while we started feeling better though. Along the road we found a little lunch room (this one wasn't monster infested) and had something to eat. After that we doubled in speed. I figured we were going about 3 miles an hour meaning it would still take us half a day to get to the city.

"So Max, do you have any idea what is in Oklahoma that's so important?" Luke asked. We hadn't really talked a lot, even while we were eating.

"Kinda. There's a bank in the centre of town that I want to go to. Phthonos and I went there to put a package in my personal storage box."

"You have a storage box?" Luke asked. I already knew all that Max told Luke, the only thing that I didn't know was the content of the package, something that Max seemed to have forgotten as well. It made me wonder how much Phthonos had tempered with Max's memory over the years. How much of his seventeen years long life had been erased from his memory?

"Yeah I do. Only at this bank though. Phthonos has a little deal with the bank. It's the most high standing bank in the region thanks to Phthonos, in return the bank cleans up Phthonos's path of destruction." The more I heard about Phthonos the more he seemed like the devil to me. Whoever owned this bank had sold his soul to the devil. Just for power he had given up his humanity.

"So what's so important about the package?" Luke asked the same question I had. And I knew Maximus would give the same answer.

"I can't remember...but if Phthonos and I went to that bank to keep it safe it was important." Max seemed 100 percent sure of that. I decided not to doubt him. Luke may have but Maximus looked so sure that I think his doubt faded. So we marched on towards Oklahoma. We only took a few minutes every hour or so to rest. Given what our task was standing around to catch a breather was a waste of time. Luckily we were all in good shape. A two or three hours hike anyone could survive. Try walking ten hours in July heat, not fun. We drank a lot of water and at any road side shop we spend nearly ten dollars worth of water. On the way we talked little, we tried to focus on keeping up speed rather than chatting. I myself wished I had some music to listen to. None of my albums were undamaged after the car crash and even if they weren't taking them would have weighed me down. I was quite happy with what Erebus had done to Shadow-edge. It was much easier to carry now that it had the shape of a lighter. I hadn't tried the glove out yet and wasn't fussed to either. After all Erebus said he had to test me and I doubted that the first test would be the last. Maybe using the glove would conjure up another test. I wasn't going to use the glove until I absolutely needed it. Of course it was smarter to just use it, deal with the test and when I needed it I would be fine. But if it was a test I doubted that it would do what Erebus said it would. It was better not to use the glove...I would have to survive without Erebus' help.

"Come on it's going to close." I was quite amazed at Maximus' new found energy. I was extremely tired. My feet were sore and I was still warm. It had taken us ages but here we were. Oklahoma bank. The building was huge. It would have stood out even in a city like New York. The main hall was giant with four escalators leading to the second floor. Two right in front of us and one on each side. Upstairs was a simple platform. There were elevator doors and a few hallways and such. Above the front entrance there was glass with the logo of the bank. I wondered if a bank really needed such a giant building. Given how many people filled the main hall I guessed it did. There was a giant line at each of the fifteen counters. Did the whole state use this bank?

"Guess we're waiting in line." I said. I dreaded waiting for so long. But we had to speak to one of the people at the counters I suppose.

"Please." Maximus said. Instead of waiting in back of the line Maximus walked towards the closest escalator. I guessed Phthonos' ex lackey didn't have to wait in line.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Thirteenth floor." Maximus had been here quite a few times or so it seemed. He moved around quickly and with a purpose. Luke and I were looking around in amazement while Maximus ignored it all. The elevator was simple although the stench alarmed me. Most elevators smelled weird but very few had the stench of blood. Other than that the button fourteen was missing on the floor panel. Maybe it was a simple mistake, that's what I thought anyway.

The thirteenth floor had office layout with cubicles and personal offices. I never really understood the point of it, even if I was a mortal working in a cubical was a hell no for me. I guess for these people it was a living. I wondered if every floor was like this or just this one. Maximus didn't really look at any of the cubical workers. In the business world the cubical workers were the lowest life form so to speak, Maximus didn't seem to think otherwise. The people in the cubicles looked weirder than I imagined. Their eyes were vacant. They stared at their computer screens and typed. Some of them looked like they hadn't slept or eaten for days.

"We call them the drones." Maximus said. "They don't sleep, they barely eat, they work until they drop dead. Most of them are interns or people who have no job. The bank hires everyone, even people who have no idea what they're doing. What they need to know gets planted into their heads and they are set to work until they drop." Maximus said. I was shocked, and I thought Luke was too. To Maximus it seemed normal though. I wondered how much time he had spend at this bank. Maybe a bit too much.

"Can we help them?" I asked. I couldn't stand by and watch these people work themselves to death for a demon bank.

"I doubt it. Even if you could you'd have some work on your hand. Every cubicle floor has fifty cubicles at least and there are thirty floors like this. That and it wouldn't go unnoticed. The entire bank would turn against you. The drones and other things are here. Even if you would it out alive you probably wouldn't be able to save a full floor. These people were lost as soon as they walked in for their first day of work." Seeing this, and hearing Maximus talk made me hate Phthonos even more. Him and whoever owned this bank. They were evil, how could they do this to mortals without a second thought? How many people had died here? How many people were still going to die here? Worst of all was that Maximus was right...I couldn't help them.

We walked past the drones in their cubicles and into a hallway. It was simple, white walls, grey floors and not any thing that would make you want to work here. It was a cold place. Luke and I followed Maximus. He knew exactly where to go, or so it seemed. He walked into a door to the left, the fire escape. Metal staircases leading both up and down. I had seen two fire escape doors, why did he take this one? We walked up two sets of stairs to the next door. On the door the number fourteen was painted in black. So there was a fourteenth floor?

"Before you ask the fourteenth isn't a floor most can access. Just like the twenty-eighth, forty-second and fifty-sixth. Other than fourteen they are on the elevator panel but you need an access key to get there." We walked through the white door. There were only hallways, one to the right, one to the left and one to the front. All with the same floor and walls. Personally I wouldn't be able to navigate through here. Maximus walked straight ahead and took the first left, he knew exactly where to go.

"So what's important about those floors?" Luke asked. It was the first question he had.

"Phthonos keeps his things here." Maximus opened a door to the left. The room it led to was giant. So giant that inside fitted a scorpion the size of a bus. Lightning quick it's tail flew forward only to be held back by a chain.

"I didn't think Phthonos kept pets. Does he take this thing for walks around the park?" Luke joked. Maximus closed the door again. The floor was more like a maze than anything else. Maximus took rights and lefts that seemed random to me but he looked straight forward. Apparently is wasn't so random to him. At one point he turned his head left for just a second. His gaze going to one specific door. It was the same door every other room had but this one was important for some reason. In half a second his gaze had returned, he probably didn't think either of us noticed. I stopped though...I wanted to know what was behind that door.

"Come on Angel, no time to lose." Maximus said. Luke had a questioning look on his face.

"What's behind this door Max?" I asked. Maybe I was wrong, maybe Maximus didn't even look at the door. But I had to know.

"Nothing important let's go." Maximus took another step forward but Luke had joined me in my curiosity. Max sighed and walked back. He opened the door and walked in. Luke and I followed closely behind him. I expected some kind of monster but what I found was a Spartan like apartment. The room we walked into had a bed, a small kitchen in the corner and two doors. "This is where I lived for nearly ten years." I was shocked. He lived here? How could anyone live here? I knew what it was like to live in a room where you had nothing more than you needed. In the orphanage we had that but this was Spartan on a whole new level. "Like I said...Phthonos keeps his things here." I understood now what Maximus was to Phthonos. I knew that Maximus wasn't important and that he would kill his slave if he needed but now I understood completely. Maximus wasn't a slave or a minion. He was a pet, this was his cage. Maybe there was little difference between pet and slave but only now I realized how much Maximus had to hate Phthonos. The strangest thing was that he didn't seem to hate Phthonos. Maybe Maximus really thought Phthonos was like a father. "Let's go." Maximus said coldly. He acted like the room meant nothing to him. But being here...I could see in his face that it touched him. We walked through more hallways, more random lefts and rights until Maximus stopped. He opened the third door.

The room was oval shaped, there was a desk in the middle of the room and a man in suit stood with his back faced to us. He was staring outside his window, a window overlooking what I imagined as hell. A dark place with no sun or light, blood and severed limbs. Just looking at it made me want to puke. Inside my head I could feel Colt. It was the kind of world he would have loved. And when the man turned around...I understood that it was the world how he wanted it. In front of us behind the desk stood Phthonos.

"I'm sorry guys..." Maximus said. It took me a few seconds before I understood. It took me another minute to believe it. Maximus had betrayed us, he had given us up to Phthonos. Luke had already conjured up his sword from his bronze hand and I reached into my pocket for the black Zippo lighter. Maximus had joined Phthonos behind his desk.

"You treacherous bastard!" I had seen Luke angry, he was ready to kill Maximus just like he was ready to kill Colt when he first attacked Maria. Just like he had killed Mack.

"Don't be angry Luke, he just did as master commanded." Phthonos said with a wicked smile on his face. Maximus didn't look at us. He stared down at the floor as if something really interesting was going on over there.

"You..." Luke said. Looking at Phthonos his anger rose to a whole new level. He seemed to be at a point where he couldn't think straight. Like this he was going to dash towards Phthonos and make the biggest mistake of his life.

"Luke calm down." If he attacked Phthonos it was all over. I couldn't let him make that mistake.

"Shut up Angel." Luke snapped. I knew he was angry, but that was uncalled for.

"If you attack him he'll kill you. Just like he killed Eric and Jake." I said. I had to get Luke to calm down.

"Leave the dead out of this. You have no idea Angel. Don't act like you've seen what I have." Luke seemed to be just as angry at me as he was at Phthonos and Max. I didn't understand why...but it pissed me off.

"You think I don't know what it's like to lose a friend? I lost everyone I ever cared about! Don't talk to me like I don't know what loss feels like!" Luke had no right to be such a bastard to me. If he believed he could do that without getting some back in his face he was an idiot.

"Yeah you know loss." Luke sounded sarcastic. "You also know how to cause it don't you? You've killed people. How many families mourned over their loved ones? You're no better than Phthonos. And now here you are acting like some kind of hero. I've been at camp for years, doing all the good I can. And now here you are leading a quest to save the world." Was Luke jealous? Was he being serious?

"How can you be jealous of me! I've got no one. You can go home to your friends and girlfriend. A place to call home. I've got nothing! I'll never have a chance to be happy like you!" I knew that a part of me was jealous of Luke. He was as normal as a demigod could be. He had regrets but he had a life to protect unlike me or Max for that matter. Only now I noticed Phthonos...the god of jealousy. He stood there with a slight grin on his face, we were like an entertaining play for him. That´s when I realized that he was causing this. Maybe Luke was jealous of me, I couldn't see how but I knew I was jealous of him in a way. But we were friends, we didn't say those things to each other. But Phthonos brought it all out. We had just lost someone to the enemy and here we were fighting each other. If this continued...I finally understood the third line of Rachel's prophecy. If this continued I would be finishing this quest alone.

"Please stop..." All three of us turned our heads to Maximus. Luke and I were surprised. Phthonos just laughed.

"So you actually care about them? We're going to have to knock that out of you." He laughed again. He sounded so sadistic and evil. It wasn't an evil laugh like in the old movies. It was a chuckle filled with the enjoyment of others pain. "But what the hell. You've done such a smashing job I might as well grant you this." Then it all disappeared. The anger, the jealousy. Luke and I lowered our weapons. A second ago we wanted to kill each other now we were both back to our senses. Phthonos had controlled us like puppets.

"So Michael...we meet again. Of course you're not really the side of you I met last time are you?" Phthonos said.

"I'm not Colt."

"Not yet." Phthonos said with a smile. Then my head felt like it exploded. A horrible pain that made a migraine seem like nothing. Colt was coming out. My last look was Luke and Maximus passing out. Phthonos and Colt needed to talk in private.

"You're a real bastard you know that Phthonos." Colt said. He had no respect for anyone, even for his current employer.

"No need for compliments." Phthonos said.

"If you wanted me here you could have just called." Colt said.

"Sorry to mislead you Michael. But you see, if Angel got his hands on this information too early it would have ruined everything. That and seeing Luke and Angel get deceived by their dear friend is much more entertaining." Of course that would be something Phthonos enjoyed. He was that kind of god.

"I'm keeping everything from him just fine. He has no idea when it's him or me. Either way...you want Messor."

"I guess you understand the full plan now. Samael and Maximus have been searching for the true Messor endlessly. Only Maximus didn't remember. He thinks we were here with the package two months ago. That was last October." Colt seemed to find it amusing how much of his memory Maximus had lost.

"What was in that package anyway?" Colt asked.

"The first copy of Messor, I thought it was the real one. I was wrong. I should have known that Jake had hidden it somewhere." Phthonos said with a slight tone of rage.

"So these names you gave me...they're like the girl Samael killed? Holding copies of the dagger?" Colt asked.

"Indeed. They might not all be little girls, Samael had quite the problem with that." Phthonos laughed like he had before.

"So is that the only reason Maximus had to get us here?"

"Not exactly...but the rest of it doesn't involve you." I think Colt and I both realized at this point that Phthonos could trigger the change between us. Did Colt think he triggered it before? Or didn't he really realize what was happening until he stood in front of Phthonos? The same pain went through Colt...and then I was standing there again.

My head ache was killing me. The switch between me and Colt was painful when it didn't happen in our sleep and twice in half an hour was very painful. It was like Colt had never been there. Luke and Maximus were standing where they stood before, even the same expressions were on their faces. I didn't remember them passing out, nor the conversation between Phthonos and Colt. It was a gap in my memory, just like Maximus' gaps, even though at this point I doubted that he didn't remember Phthonos' plan or the package (if that even existed. Colt knew it did but I wasn't so sure any more.)

"No indeed you aren't." The conversation me and Phthonos were having picked up where it left off. I didn't remember there had been an interval.

"So what's this about Phthonos?" I asked. Luke was standing beside me trying to keep his cool. Now that Phthonos wasn't messing with our heads that was a lot easier.

"Do you like the room Michael? Recognize it by any chance?" I didn't. Mostly because I didn't really follow politics or history or anything like that. I'm a horrible American. I looked around the room. It was quite fancy, on the floor was an eagle with the American flag. I had no clue what room this was supposed to be.

"It's the oval office." Luke said. Phthonos grinned.

"The office of the most powerful mortal alive. Or so they say." Phthonos said. "I have to tell though, I love America. It's so much better than the countries we used to be before. Everywhere you look a man jealous of those better than him. Every alley a fool with malicious intentions. American's are such interesting mortals. All so proud of their country. And the foolish mortals don't even realize it wasn't their species that gave them all the prowess they have." Phthonos chuckled. I wondered where he was going with this. "Soon though they will know...they'll know that they are nothing but ants. And you will help me Michael." Phthonos looked at me with a grin on his face.

"I'd never help you!" I said. I doubted about that. After all what he was offering wasn't something not to consider. The power he was willing to give me. It was...tempting.

"You seem so convinced." He said sarcastically.

"Is this why he made us come here?" Luke asked. "Just to have a chat?" Luke sounded so angry, I knew the anger wasn't caused by Phthonos but I thought Luke would try to sound calm.

"Not really. Mostly I just wanted my property back. Thanks for feeding and walking him but I can take care of him now." He talked about Maximus as if he was a dog. I could feel my hand clenching into a fist. "Well...that was all. Bye bye for now." Phthonos walked from behind the task and passed us towards the door. There was nothing me and Luke could do to him. If we attacked him now he would kill us with ease. We could attack Maximus. If Phthonos wanted him to return he must have some use but I doubted that he was irreplaceable. And even if Phthonos did really need him...I couldn't kill him. I heard the door close behind me. Phthonos and Maximus were gone. Luke and I were left in the fake oval office with the view of hell.

I felt numb. A friend had just betrayed me and I had just been told by a god that I would help him destroy life as we knew it. Luke and I were quiet. We didn't know what to say. We left the room and found our way back to the staircases. We decided to walk down. It was quite a walk but I was happy that we weren't on the fifty-sixth floor. The staircase stopped at a door with a one painted on it. Ground floor, if we were lucky we only had to get through the main hall. Of course luck wasn't on our side. The door wouldn't budge. I slashed at it with Shadow-edge but it didn't change a thing. We went up one stairs. This door opened smoothly. We walked into the hallway and walked towards the platform we had been on before...that time with Maximus. We looked down into the main hall, it was filled with people like before. But these weren't normal people...not any more. They had a vacant stare, and all held different kinds of weapons. Swords, spears, axes, flails. They were drones, but I doubted these were good at typing up reports.

"A little parting gift from Phthonos." Luke said as he drew his sword and shield.

"We can't harm them. They're people." I said.

"You heard Max, they are slaves to Phthonos. Its a fat chance that we can even get out of here if you are afraid to harm them." I understood Luke...but how could I kill these people? How could he? Maybe he understood better than I did that these weren't people any more. Just bodies, walking dead so to speak. They started to come up the escalators. There were at least fifty of them. Luke blocked the attacks with his shield and attacked with his sword. Most of the attacks were fatal blows. These drones weren't great fighters but the two of us couldn't fight an army. Unlike Luke I disarmed our foes. A punch or kick in the face once or twice. With Shadow-edge I met their blades and with a punch to the face I would take them down. Eventually it caught up to me. I felt a stinging pain in my left leg. A spear had made a deep cut, a dagger cut my arm and a sword was coming towards my neck. Then time seemed to stop. The room filled with darkness and I heard a voice...I wasn't sure if it was all in my head or if it just happened so fast that no one noticed it.

"Michael...compassion is a good thing. But don't let it be the end of you." Light returned. I knew the voice had been my father. I wondered if helping me like that was allowed. I always heard that the gods weren't allowed to interfere with the lives of their children. Then again Phthonos had obviously broken that rule. And for some reason Erebus didn't seem like the kind of god to stick to the ancient laws.

I just dodged the sword coming at me. I didn't doubt any more. Shadow-edge flew into the gut of the nearest drone. I cut of the tip of the spear and in one motion the tip of my sword cut my attackers throat. My wounds hurt but adrenaline kept me going. "Luke we need a plan!" I said while cutting down another drone. Downstairs I saw more drones appearing. Maximus had told us there were at least a thousand in the building...our chance of survival was dropping dangerously low.

"We have to get back up the fire escape." Luke said. I didn't understand what he meant. We'd be trapped. But if he thought it was a good idea.. I started going to through the hallway. Luke did the same. I walked backwards looking behind me a few times to check for more drones. In front of me I took down every drone that came near. They really couldn't fight. All of them made the same movements and they were extremely slow with their attacks. Dodging or parrying was easy. We made it to the white door and got in. "Run!" We ran up the stairs as fast as we could. The drones followed us in a very slow pace. We got to the twelfth floor and Luke ran in. There were no cubicles. Just a few offices and such. There was no one here, outside I could see everything grow darker and darker. It wouldn't be long before the sun had gone down completely. We blocked the door to the fire escape, we doubted that it would stop the drones for long but we had to try. We walked past the offices until we got to a big office in the back of the hall. We walked in and locked the door behind his. I was thinking that we were locking ourselves in more and more. Luke was looking out of the window frantically. I was wondering if he was thinking of jumping. Eventually I closed the shutters making the room almost completely dark. "Use the glove."

"What?" I didn't understand why he wanted me to do that. What was the point?

"Just do it!" Luke seemed so certain. I was still afraid that it was another test. Behind us the drones had nearly broken through our barricade. I didn't know why Luke wanted me to use the glove but I listened.

"Erebus?" He said I had to call on him. I didn't know if that meant his name or some kind of full prayer. This seemed to do the trick. Only it didn't do what I expected. I figured I would turn invisible or something, instead everything around me turned into that thick darkness I had seen twice now. Only this time it came from the glove, or so it seemed. It was the same darkness though, and again it felt like time had stopped, maybe that was because in the darkness there was no time. There was nothing other than the darkness. I stood there for a few seconds waiting. Maybe this was what Erebus meant. I thought so until things appeared in the darkness. They didn't seem like monsters but they weren't human either. They were shadows. They were pure black and the weapons they held were just shades. Were they even there? Was this in my head? I didn't know...what I did know was that I had to defend myself. Out of my pocket I got Shadow-edge. I turned the flint and the lighter changed into the sword I had taken from Samael. That seemed so long ago now. I wondered if the sword had belonged to me longer than to him. I didn't think that question would ever be answered.

There were three of them. At first I didn't feel very confident. I was outnumbered (of course these were better odds then me and Luke against the drones) and I was wounded. Or so I believed. When I looked at my arm and leg the wounds were gone. Did this darkness heal me? Even more I didn't feel so tired. I was sharper than ever. Did Erebus want me at full strength for this fight? If these things killed me he probably wouldn't care, but at least he wanted me to be the best I could be. The three carried different weapons. A sword, an axe and a spear. They all seemed skilled with their weapons. I was sure these fights would be more challenging than ten of the drones outside these shadows. I was wondering if the drones were still approaching Luke and me. If so there was a chance that Luke was fighting them alone while I was standing in front of Erebus' challenge. But I had little time to worry about anything but the challenge. The shades attacked me simultaneously. I dodged the spear by sidestepping which got me out of the axes reach at the same time. The swordsman slashed towards me. I brought Shadow-edge upwards and blocked it's attack. I was probably quick enough to bring my sword down and sweep his leg but the spear was coming towards me again. I jumped backwards dodging the spear once again. The shade with the axe charged towards me. It seemed the most aggressive and the least skilled fighter to me. Maybe that's what I thought of most fighters wielding an axe. I had tried it once, it was a clumsy weapons and required strength more than anything. It was not a weapon I would choose. The axe came down quicker than I thought. I dodged but the sharp blade nearly cut off my foot. The shade was strong and lifted the weapon with ease and swung at me again. I knew that with the strength of the shade and the size of the axe I couldn't block or parry this thing. I had to get out of its way. That got tougher each time it swung at me. Not just that the other two were tired of waiting and it wouldn't be long before they would attack as well. The reach of this axe was too far for me to get close. If this continued we would be dancing around like this for some time. Of course I would get tired while the shade probably didn't know fatigue like I did. Eventually I knew that the only way I was going to beat this thing was by using the other two. I knew one of them was going to join the skirmish, and I prayed it would be the one of the spear. The spear was the only weapon with more reach than the axe. If I found a way to put them across each other the spear would beat the axe, at least I hoped it would. Of course luck wasn't on my side. The shade carrying a sword came at me at incredible speed. The shade with the axe was also swinging at me again. They had pincered me, the sword at my back and the axe at my front. If behind me was the one with the with the spear I would have had my wish but instead I got this. I dodged the axe like I had before and turned around as quick as I could. I held Shadow-edge in front of me hoping I would meet my opponents blade. As I heard the cling of metal colliding I knew I was safe for the time. I had to get rid of the shade in front of me. I couldn't fight it and the one holding the axe at the same time. I attacked and it parried with ease, when it tried to attack me I blocked and attacked. We went on like that. In my mind we weren't going that fast but if someone was watching the fight, following the blades would be extremely tough. With my ADHD/inherited fighting senses I was able to keep up with these kinds of speed but most people weren't. Eventually I caught it's blade on mine and grabbed it's wrist. I pushed it's arm away from me and with Shadow-edge I decapitated the shade. It dissolved into the darkness as if it had never been there. I now held Shadow-edge and my opponents sword. I never fought with two swords at once, but it seemed like a handy advantage.

I had rid myself of one opponent but two remained. I had two weapons now, if my reflexes were good enough I could possible fend off both attackers using one sword for each of my foe's. The funny thing was that it seemed that shadow-edge (which was usually about four and a half foot) seemed to have shrunk. It was the exact same length as the other sword. Maybe it was just my imagination though. It made the weapons easier to carry. It would also improve my movement speed, meaning it was just one more advantage. Of course I was still outnumbered and I was getting quite tired. The two were standing in front of me. The shade with the axe seemed completely focused on me with it's weapon by it's side while the other was waving around it's spear pulling of little tricks. Either he was showing off or he was trying to distract me, I figured it was the latter. For a second I thought about attacking them but attacking two opponents seemed foolish. It was better to stay defensive and find an opening. That's when the one with the spear charged. It tried to stab me in my chest like it had before. I was thinking of side stepping but instead I went for an opening. I bend my knee's and balanced myself on my toe's making getting as close to the ground as I could. I crossed my two swords and caught the spear at the meeting point of my blades. I got back to my feet and pushed my weapons upwards. The tip of the spear was now far above my head. The stick of the spear rested on the sword I got from the shade. I turned my arm left pushing the spear away and freeing Shadow-edge. The shade was now wide open for an attack. With Shadow-edge I cut it twice before it dissolved into the shadows like the last enemy had.

Now it was just me and the shade with the axe. He was stronger than me and surprisingly fast with a weapon like that. I should have known that it was possible to master an axe like that. There were quite a few Ares kids at camp that could carry an axe with that skill and precision. Luckily even though I had underestimated his speed I was slightly faster. Dodging it's swings caused little problem only it would tire me out. And after taking out two quite skilled opponents I wanted to finish off the third quickly. It came at me and swung the axe downwards. If there had been any solid ground the axe would probably get stuck in it with it's incredible strength. It was something that usually happened in the video games when fighting a big enemy. It would get stuck in the ground making sure that the player could attack. All I could do though was dodge and try to find a single opening. That was all it would take. I dodged it's every swing The more he swung the harder it got, until it made a mistake. It tried to sweep my legs. What I was going to try would either cut off both my feet or hand this fight to me. I jumped. Outside the shadow I would have felt the blade cut through the wind, or at least heard it. Here there was nothing. There was no wind, I was quite surprised that I could breathe. Maybe it was a son of Erebus thing. Kids of Poseidon could breathe underwater, I could breathe in pure darkness. When my feet hit the ground (or the darkness that we stood on, call it what you wish) the fight was over. He hadn't raised his axe above my knees yet and I was standing in front of him with two swords and it's entire body wide open. I stabbed both my swords in it's body. Before my swords were all the way through the shade had already dissolved. The fight had barely lasted five minutes.

"Again you did better than I expected." Erebus said. He had appeared in front of me barely a second after the shade dissolved. This day just wouldn't end. He looked the same as he had before. "I expected you'd take longer." Erebus said. I wanted to prove myself to him, but I did think he was a bastard.

"No congratulations." Erebus didn't seem one for jokes or sarcasm. He didn't smile, he didn't show any sign that he didn't like what I said either. He seemed very serene to me.

"Well done." He said awkwardly. "Either way I'm not here to tell you how you did. I'm here to tell you something most gods would not. You're talents." I didn't understand what he meant. I knew every demigod had things from their parents. Luke wasn't a master of machinery because of his mother's side (come to think of it Luke had never told me about his mother.) "Since you're in a sticky situation I should probably tell you about shadow travel." I had never heard of shadow travel. I could pretty much guess what it was.

"Why are you helping me? It doesn't seem like you really care about me. And you're breaking ancient rules by doing this." I said. I really didn't understand why Erebus did this. Maybe it was because he didn't care about the rules. Maybe he really wanted to help me.

"Because you're not strong enough." Erebus said. It felt bad hearing that from him. I knew that I wasn't, I had always known. But hearing it from my own father...it hurt. "If I don't help you won't even make it out of this building. And sadly you are the only one that can stop Phthonos." I figured that a good father son bond wasn't happening any time soon. "Either way shadow travel is easy to do, extremely hard to master. Just walk in the shadows and imagine the place you want to go. The darkness will lead you there. Tell your friend to cover his eyes and ears if he doesn't want to go mad." Then Erebus disappeared again. I didn't feel any better than before. I felt worse. I had hoped that my father tested me because he wanted me to survive, not that he thought I was too weak to stand on my own two feet. I stood there alone for another few seconds before the shadows disappeared again. No time seemed to have passed. So in the darkness time really didn't exist. That or it moved extremely slow. I was gone for at least a few minutes but it seemed like I had been away for barely a few seconds.

"Angel!" Luke said. "You're back, where did you go?" He asked.

"The darkness, how long was I gone? Have the drones broken through?" I asked. Luke shook his head.

"No they're still trying but they're closing in. You were gone for barely ten seconds. It was longer for you wasn't it?" Luke asked. He seemed to know already. He probably knew more of these things than I did. He had been at camp much longer and had seen different kinds of demigods. I wondered if he had met more children of Erebus.

"Yeah it was." I said. I didn't really want to say much. We had to move. We had to shadow travel, if Erebus said that would get us out of here it had to work.

"So what did Erebus tell you?" Luke seemed pretty sure about these things, was I really gone or did it happen in front of his eyes?

"He told me about shadow travel." I said. "How do you know I talked to him?"

"Well I figured the glove would trigger another challenge, I know you did too." He was right. That's why I had been hesitant to use it. "I also thought that once you completed it you would get some information or something you could use, maybe another challenge." Luke said. "But shadow travel...I didn't see that one coming." Luke said.

"Well it's rather easy." I said. At least the way Erebus explained it was easy.

"It's a very dangerous and advanced technique. The first time Jeni tried it she was asleep for three days. Of course she's a daughter of Hades not Erebus. They're able to shadow travel but not half as talented as you should be." It seemed like it was a guess more than a fact.

"Do you have any other ideas?" I thought shadow travel was the only way out of here. We had to try it. And just when Luke spoke we lost all other options. The drones broke through. Not just one, dozens charged towards us. They broke through the office door with ease. I just looked at Luke and he nodded. Outside the moon shined bright. I didn't really know how I could take Luke into the shadows, I just grabbed his arm and hoped it would work. "Cover your eyes and ears." I said before walking into the shadow of the wall.

The room was gone, I was in the darkness again, Luke was beside me holding his hands over his ears and closing his eyes. Of course it didn't really matter whether he opened or closed his eyes. He wouldn't see the difference anyway. I didn't unless there was something in the darkness with me, in this case Luke. I saw nothing except for Luke. I walked on not really sure where we would end up. I had only thought 'outside of Oklahoma city on the other side we came in please' as if I was talking to a taxi driver. I wondered why Erebus told Luke to close his eyes and ears. Maybe the darkness was different for people who weren't children of Erebus (or Hades apparently.) Now that I started listening though...I heard. It seemed to come from everywhere. I couldn't focus on the sound like you could outside. I just heard it from every direction. Whispers, I couldn't make out what they were saying. First it was one voice, then there were many. They were far away but close by. They were there, but weren't. What were they? Now I understood. I was looking around frantically trying to find the sound. I kept walking forward hoping I would leave this darkness soon. But it wasn't soon. It seemed like I walked for hours. Luke still kept his eyes closed and his hands over his ears. Did it seem so long for him. I wanted to do what he did. Shut out the whispers. But if I wanted to hold my hands over my ears I would have to let go of Luke. What would happen to him if I did? He couldn't shadow travel, where would he end up? I couldn't do that, instead I picked up my pace and hoped that it would end. It didn't end. It never ended. The darkness never ended. It was an endless pit of nothingness. It was like that...until I crashed to my knees. My eyes hurt, there was too much light even though it was just the feint light of the moon and the stars. I heard normal sounds again. The wind was the only thing I heard...but no whispers. I was out, I had made it out. Luke felt I had let go of him. He opened his eyes and when he saw he was outside he removed his hands from over his ears. I felt horrible, I had never been this out of it. Everything moved so slow and nothing seemed real.

"You did it! I can't believe you did it!" He looked at me. His voice sounded far away and his words were stretched as if he had been put on super slow motion. "Angel? Are you alright?" Luke sounded worried, I didn't hear the difference though. For me it was all just noise. I didn't really hear what he was saying and the things I did hear I didn't remember half a second later. That's when I couldn't take it any more, I fell towards the ground. I could feel everything grow dark around me. Sound fading again. Was I going into the darkness? No not again! I couldn't take it again! I didn't want to go in there again. "Angel! ANGEL!" help...


	25. I Will Walk

Chapter 25: I will walk

The room I woke up in was new to me. Waking up in strange rooms was something I had started to get used to though. This room was obviously a hotel room trying to create a fake feeling of home. The room was cosy I suppose. I had never really known cosy. My mother was more into the modern interior style. Cold steel instead of breathing wood. It was nice I guess but it wasn't cosy. The orphanage had been a cold cruel place, the people made that happen more than anything. Camp may have been cosy, but the Hermes cabin was too crowded to notice if it was cozy at all. This room was (in my opinion) cosy. The floor was carpeted red and the walls were wood brown. Beside the single sized bed I was in there was a night stand with a reading light and in the top right corner of the room there was a small TV with an antenna on top. The thing looked so old and beat up I wondered if it was a colour TV. The bed I was laying in was comfortable, of course imagining how many people had slept in this bed and how horrible you could imagine the washing machine in this place was comfort was hard to find. Of course every motel was like that, even in a five star you were sleeping in a bed that had been used a million times. I wondered how the neat freaks survived hotels.

Getting up was a pain. I was still fully dressed. I didn't remember how I got here, the last thing I remembered was passing out not long after trying shadow travel. I was still feeling the side effects of trying that little trick. I felt like I hadn't slept in days, my eyes lids found each other against my will. I had to get up, I had more important things to do than sleep. Standing weak on my knees I moved to the wooden door which was about 5 foot from the foot of the bed. It took me a while to stumble my way to the door, but I made it without crumbling down. The next room had the same walls and floor. The room had a bunk bed, room for three apparently. Of course if my memory served me right the third person had stabbed us in the back. I had hoped Luke would be in the room but there was no one there. There were two doors in this room. One I guessed led to the bathroom (always the same thing, a toilet, sink and shower in a room so small you couldn't move in inch without bumping into something) the other had a lock on it which made it obvious it was the door that led outside. I wondered where I was, how far was it to Los Angeles from here. I needed to find Luke and get moving. First I had to sit down. The room had started spinning and I felt like I was going to be sick. I walked to the overly small bathroom and splashed some water in my face. I looked worse every day. I was closer to a corpse than a person now. My face was getting slimmer everyday. I never thought I was very attractive but now I looked very very unattractive. Even standing on my feet with my face still drenched with water I nearly fell asleep on the spot. I was fighting to keep my knees from giving in when I heard the door. I turned around and stumbled a few steps when I saw Luke entering the room. He looked tired like me (but I always looked tired) and was carrying a white plastic bag.

"Angel you're up." He said. I tried to speak but I was too weak. I just wanted to lie down. I dropped myself on the bottom bed of the bunk bed and closed my eyes. "Not for long I see." Was the last thing I heard.

It was a dark room I was in. I was alone, or at least I thought so. Was I in the darkness again? I hoped not. If I went in there again I would probably never make it out. I doubted that I would last time. But I had and now I couldn't wake up, maybe I was dead. Was this my punishment? I doubted it. This didn't seem all that horrible. But given who I was Hades would probably want to give me the worst punishment he ever gave anyone. Or maybe I wasn't that special. I wasn't exactly sure. I don't know how long I spend in that darkness before the darkness started to colour up. Something was happening, the world around me was shaping itself, was this a dream? The world changed until it took a solid shape. I was standing in front of a sub urban house, two stories and an attic. The outside was white although inside there was not a single room painted white. The former inhabitants didn't like white. It wasn't homey for them. It was an empty colour. So inside there house, there was no white paint at all. The curtains were dark grey, so were the living room walls. I looked at the house, something was important in there, I just didn't know what. I walked up to the porch and towards the front door. I had to enter this house at all costs, but I couldn't be caught. I wore black gloves, I could feel a second fingerless glove on my right hand but I couldn't wear just that. I would still leave finger prints. The front door was locked obviously. I the had learned the art of picking locks a long time ago. I can't really explain how it works. It's something you try and succeed in. The door opened with a cracking noise. How long had this been closed? The hallway was dark and empty. There was a brown cupboard on the side and a stairs leading upwards on the left. What I needed was in the living room though. I walked past the cupboard and took the door on the left. The living room had two couches, a small table which the family probably used to eat dinner in front of the old TV that stood on a brown TV set with wheels underneath. There was no one there, at least I saw no one. When I looked closer, there was someone. There was a girl, no older than 10 hiding behind the couch. I smiled, I had found my target. She looked at me with terror in her eyes. Around her neck hang a silver pendant in the shape of an owl. That's what I was after, the girl was just a bonus. Given how scared she was she probably would have given me the pendant without a struggle, but I didn't give her that choice.

"Please...don't kill me." The girl said. She was sobbing now. It disgusted me, she was so weak. Looking into the face of death most would be. Those people were weaklings who didn't deserve to live. Those that looked in deaths eyes and smiled, those earned their lives.

"Oh I'm not going to kill you." I said. "That wouldn't be half the fun." I smiled. The torture last for hours. I kept asking her about the pendant. How she got it, if there were more, if it was the original. She cried in pain and claimed she didn't know. I didn't believe her, and even if I did I enjoyed the torture too much to stop. Eventually her screams didn't satisfy me any more. So I took her pendant, slit her throat and left her to die. I remembered Samael, how he doubted for a second about killing that girl. He had grown so weak. Here I was working my ass off while he slacked around crying about it. Of course I wasn't much different. The real me. This wasn't the real me. This was Colt. Had he done this? Could this be stopped? Could I ever wake up again?

It would be fourteen hours before I woke up. This time I felt better, not a lot better, but better. Now it was like I had slept an hour or so and woke up to go to work or school. Of course that was still weird since I slept fourteen hours and a lot more before that. (Luke didn't bother checking the time when I passed out so I guess we'll never know.) I didn't feel so weak any more but I felt like I could have some more sleep with ease, if it wasn't for the dream. What I had dreamed about still haunted my thoughts. Had that happened or did it still have to happen? I hoped for the latter, maybe then it could be stopped. Of course if any of my dreams had taken place in the future I had been doing a horrible job changing it. Jake had always told me the future could be changed. I remember how he explained it.

"So how does this future seeing thing work?" I asked. I had been living with Jake for a few weeks. He had told me about it vaguely when I talked to him not long after Samael nearly killed me, but after that we never discussed it again.

"I don't know, I just see the future sometimes. I don't know if you've noticed but I don't always know what's going to happen. Just sometimes I know what's going to happen. I don't see it in a vision or whatever, I just know. Just as sure as I am that one times one is one, I'm sure about what's happening next. And that also means that I can change it. If I know I'm going to jump to the right and get killed by whatever is attacking me, I jump to the left." I still didn't really understand. Of course now I knew that he had been lying. That was how his abilities were before Hyperion, now he knew everything. And he had adapted. It made me wonder, why didn't he prevent his own death? Was it inevitable? Was there no way he could have avoided Phthonos killing him? I wasn't sure.

"So have you been able to change the future?" I was curious. Jake was so convinced that he could so it must have succeeded many times, if not every time. Jake's facial expression went sad though. He looked down and his smile turned into a frown. I wondered about the saying turning a frown upside down. Didn't a smile turn into a frown more often?

"Not always. There were some cases I did. When I was fighting this giant scorpion with a friend of mine I was able to save her." To this day I don't know if he meant Sophie, Ashlyn or someone completely different. Some days I wonder about that. "But when I fought Hyperion...I saw what happened to Dean, but I couldn't save him." Dean, a.k.a Darius Nikolas. Jake always beat himself up about not being able to save him. The fact that he knew it was going to happen made it even worse. But the blast of Hyperion had been so powerful that there was no way he could save his friend. I knew how it felt to be powerless. After all I had seen all of my friends die and I couldn't stop it. All I was good for was avenging them.

"I'm sorry about Dean." I said. At the time I didn't really care a lot. I thought Jake was all right but I wouldn't call him a friend. Jake looked at me and tried to fake a smile.

"Don't worry about it man, that was years ago. I can change the future, but sadly not the past."

I was still in the lower bed of the bunk beds. The lights were off and there seemed to be no light coming from behind the curtains. I had woken up in the middle of the night, of course. With some effort I got myself out of bed. Obviously I was still weak, partially because I hadn't eaten in at least a full day. Luckily Luke had left something to munch on. There was some bread and peanut butter. Of course there were also some Reese's around, same old Luke. I ate two sandwiches and had a zip of water. For a moment I thought about laying back in the bed but I decided against it. I had enough sleep. I unlocked the door, took the key card which was on the windowsill and walked out. The fresh air felt pretty good. Looking up into the darkness of the sky I felt better than before. Strength was returning to me. I could walk normally and I could keep my eyes open with ease. The night never seemed to have a tiring effect on me. It was kind of chilly outside (especially since I was walking around in a t-shirt) but that didn't bother me. I walked around aimlessly around the motel. The motel was a simple building. There was a middle building which had the lobby and then two more sides which came forwards making it shaped like a mansion in a way. But this building looked like it should be thoroughly inspected...of course most motels did. Around the building there were mostly grass fields. On the east side of the building there was some kind of machine that reminded me of a generator but I doubted a small time motel like this had it's own generator. Maybe I was wrong about what it was. After all I wasn't even sure if it was even a generator, it was just what I thought a generator looked like. I went about three laps around the building, mostly because I was happy to be out of my seemingly endless slumber. Being able to walk around again felt weird, the cold breeze felt weird. I wondered if this was how a coma patient waking up felt. It probably did. Even though I hadn't been out for that long to me it seemed like ages. The truth was I doubted I would ever wake up, I nearly started wondering if I was already dead. But I had woken up. Here I was walking around in the real world outside the dreams I had. Eventually though I did return to my bed. Mostly because I knew that the next morning I would just wake up to continue our travel.

I was right, the next morning I woke up normally. Luke was surprised that I woke up if nothing had happened. I told him about the night before. How I had woken up and went for a walk. He seemed slightly pissed that I hadn't woken him, but I figured he needed the sleep. It was true that now he looked a lot more fit and focused than he had before. None of us had gotten much sleep over the course of our travel. I wondered if Maximus had trouble sleeping. After how he betrayed us, he should. Luke and I packed up and left. Luke told me he found out that I had shadow travelled us miles ahead. We were about 60 miles away from Amarillo, Texas. The next city on route 66. We were about 3 miles away from Howardwick, a small town. Apparently I had brought us to a road side plate. It had been sprayed on with red graffiti paint. There was a line from a movie I saw ages ago, full metal jacket. It said: 'Only steers and queers come from Texas, Private Cowboy. And you don't look much like a steer to me so that kinda narrows it down' Whoever wrote that obviously didn't like Texas all that much even though he had left out the final part of the quote. Probably because who ever wrote it knew it would be painted over immediately. In the movie the gunnery sergeant said that to one of his new recruits. He was a bastard but his recruits became pretty good soldiers. One didn't...but instead of making me explain that, go watch the bloody movie. The reason I knew the place was because I had been there before. Martin wasn't the best guide...he strayed from the right path quite a few times. When we did we ended up in Howardwick. The town wasn't all that special, but I remembered the plate very well. I laughed about it at the time. Of course after that we went to Detroit (like I said, major detours.) Luke had dragged my pretty much lifeless body to a near motel and checked in. I pretty much knew the story from there. The day and a half we were there he mostly stocked up on supplies and he had talked to Maria a lot.

"Hey Angel..." Luke said as we marched forwards. There seemed to be doubt in his voice. I wondered what he had to say. We had been walking about an hour now. After he told me what happened we both had been quiet. Quiet seemed to happen a lot lately.

"What's on your mind mate?" I asked casually. I wondered what he was going to say. I hoped it wasn't about Max. I really didn't feel like talking about that. I had started to see Max as a friend and he betrayed us. Talking about that wasn't going to help at all so I would rather we not talk about it. I knew Luke had told Maria. He didn't have to tell me that in order for me to know.

"Something Maria said." Luke still sounded doubtful. Then he stopped walking. I took a few more steps before I noticed. When Luke wasn't walking beside me any more I stopped and turned my head. Luke was just standing there, eyes pointed to the ground. "She thinks we should go back." Luke said. I was hardly shocked. I understood Maria, but I didn't agree. But Luke doubted, I got that more than anything. We had just passed half way and we had lost one ally to the enemy, had been shows that we were merely being toyed with and found out that we barely understood the point of this quest. Truth was, we stood no chance.

"Do you agree?" I asked. That was much more important than what Maria thought. If he wanted to go back I was screwed. Because there was no way I was going to go back. I was going to continue until I dropped dead. And without Luke I wouldn't last very long. It reminded me of the prophecy. I would face the lord of the dead alone. Was this how I ended up being alone? Was Luke going home?

"I don't know man. We can't win this. If we continue there's not going to be a happy ending." Luke said. I saw the fear in his eyes. I think both of us had tried not to be afraid, but because he had something to lose, that was extremely hard. "But we can't turn back either. We've past the point of no return. If we don't do anything Phthonos is going to turn Samael or Max into a murdering machine and then we're all going to die." Luke was right about that. Of course there were other heroes. But I doubted that whoever got Hyperion's power would be beaten by a simple hero.

"I know how you feel man. And if you want to go back...I get it." 'You'll also be sending me to certain death but let's not take that in consideration.' I thought to myself "But I'm going on. I can't stop. This task was given to me so I have to see it through till the end." I turned my back on Luke. Every step I hoped to hear another set of footsteps. But I didn't. The further I walked, the more I started to realize. Luke had turned back.

I walked alone. One friend had betrayed me, the other had left me. I was walking down this road alone. I knew that I stood no chance now. How could I beat Phthonos alone? I had nearly died more than once, Luke and Max had patched me up those times. How could I survive if I was alone? I would be dead before reaching Amarillo. 'Alone the lord of the dead he shall face' the line echoed in my head. What Rachel had said had come true. I wondered if alone I could survive. The prophecy never mentioned my death but it never mentioned I would come out alive either. The rest of the prophecy made little sense to me. Maybe none of those lines involved me, even though the prophecy was meant for me. I wasn't exactly sure. I wasn't sure about anything any more. I walked for hours trying to figure things out. After hours I still didn't know a thing. My feet hurt and I was tired of walking. The sun started to go down, it was later than I thought. I figured I was about half way towards Amarillo. I wasn't going to make it in one go. I had to rest. I collected some branches and other dry wood and Luke had bought me some lighter fluid when I was doing my 24 hour long nap. I threw some of the fluid on the wood and filled Shadow-edge in it's lighter form up. I didn't exactly know how this was supposed to work. The same flint was turned to turn the lighter into a sword that was usually used to make a small flame. In my head I was praying for a flame and when I turned the flint that's what happened. A small flame appeared on the lighter. I lit the branches and a small fire started. I closed the lighter which immediately killed the flame. Now it was like a normal lighter. That's when thought popped into my head. What if I want my sword? I opened the lighter and turned the flint again. Now the lighter turned into my weapon of choice. The lighter seemed to react to my thoughts. How connected was this thing to me? I inspected the sword. It looked exactly the way it did before Erebus touched it. A celestial bronze sword with the name Shadow-edge carved into it. In the moon light the blade seemed darker than normally. It seemed to have some sort of dark shade. Maybe it was just me. That's when I heard a noise. Leaves rustling and feet moving. Something was closing in on me. I got up and pointed my sword towards what seemed to be the source of the sound. A group of bushes, thorn bushes with flowers. That's when I heard voices.

"Ow, there's a thorn in my arm."

"You're standing on my foot."

"I have a thorn in my arm!" There were two different voices. Two people. I could guess who they were. I wasn't very happy about it.

"Come out you two!" I said with my sword still pointing in their direction. That's when they popped up. "Alex Jones and Hectar Garner, what are you two doing here?" I was surprised to see them. How did they get here? Other than a few scratches (probably from the thorns) and some dirt on their faces they seemed unharmed. Hectar opened his mouth to speak but Jones jumped ahead and spoke (something he seemed to enjoy very much.)

"We're doing what we were meant to do. We're detectives. Here to find you three missing demigods and bring you back." Jones said. He looked around the fire, I think that's only when he realized that I was alone. "So where are the others?"

"They left." I wasn't going to tell them what happened exactly. Especially not that Maximus betrayed us and that Luke had abandoned the quest. Better to tell them as little as possible. "So how did you end up here?" Again Hectar tried to speak but Jones was faster.

"Easy, we followed you."

"What road are we following?"

"Well uhm..." He had no idea. That they were in pursuit of me I could hardly believe. But they hadn't purposely found me. That must have been luck. I had seen their 'detective' skills. They sucked. I should probably have advised them to find a new hobby. But they annoyed me too much to even try and talk some sense into them.

"So you didn't follow us. Again, how did you get here?" I was already getting annoyed by them. They were so foolish.

"Well it was noticed pretty soon that Luke, Maximus and you were gone. Chiron was furious. So we took the task of hunting you down and bringing you back."

"How did you know where we went?" Now Hectar got a moment.

"We overheard a Iris message between Maria and Luke. We heard him say he was in Pittsburgh and that you were headed for Los Angeles. So we went after you." Hectar said. "By the way do you have any cheese?" I ignored that.

"Did you get permission?" Their faces answered my question. "Please tell me you didn't turn three campers leaving without permission into five." I knew that that's what they did.

"We figured that when we brought you back Chiron wouldn't mind." Jones said.

"Do you have any cheese?"

"So then what? You left for LA, how did you get here."

"Well we took the train from New York to Chicago. We figured we were only one train behind you." I knew that they had taken the train Luke, Max and I couldn't wait for. They weren't far behind us. They probably caught up to me when I was knocked out in that motel. "Then we hitch-hiked from there. And met some rather creepy people." Hectar elbowed Jones in the stomach.

"Let's not talk about that." I didn't even want to know...

"Anyway..." Jones continued. "We ended up being left on the road side not too far from here when we saw this flame. We were actually just hoping to get something to eat but we found our target at last." Pure luck.

"And what made you idiots decide to do this!" Alex obviously didn't expect this sudden outburst.

"We'll be heroes." He said weakly.

"Heroes! Is that why you're doing this! People die trying to save everyone but you just want to be heroes! Get the fuck out of here!" I raised Shadow-edge, if I had to I would beat them up till they left. I would stake my life on it that I had faced tougher challenges than them. The pulled out two simple bronze swords. Were they really going to try and fight me? It seemed like it. That's when I heard something. More rustles in the leaves. More than before. Things were moving in the bushes. And these things were big. When the first of the hell hounds came out of the bushes I knew we were screwed. The hell hound looked even worse than the one I encountered at camp half-blood. It was bigger and it's head looked angrier. It's teeth were sharp as nails and it's eyes black as night. Of course it wasn't the only one. Alex, Hectar and I had encountered a pack. Not long after the first one came out of the bushes eight more followed. We ran as fast as we could. We actually ran the right way over the road. We didn't really have to be afraid of cars, it was nearly midnight after all. Not much traffic in those parts at that time. The hell hounds were right on our heels. I ran behind Alex and Hectar. They were faster than me for one and staying behind was the best idea. I didn't like these guys but I didn't really want them to get hurt. A hell hound caught up to me pretty quickly. It ran beside me for a while. I Still had shadow-edge in my hand. For some reason it seemed to have grown even lighter and slightly shorter. Without notice the hell hound lunged for my heel. If he got me to the ground I was dead meat. Just before it's teeth grabbed hold of me my blade connected with it's neck. Before I could blink the monster had disintegrated into dust. One down, eight to go. I started slowing down slightly. For one my stamina didn't allow me to run at that speed for a long time and secondly I wanted more hell hounds to catch up. I didn't think I could get them all in that way but I had to try. To this day I think I did quite well. I took down two more in the same way before one got the best of me. It's teeth sunk deep into the back of my leg. The pain was horrible. Still, I had worse over the trip. I remembered how the Leukrokottas had nearly cut my eyes out. That hurt a lot more. Still the pain was worse enough to make me collapse. In my fall I managed to cut the hell hound pretty badly. It didn't die just yet but it wasn't able to keep it's teeth in my leg. As soon as I landed on the concrete I turned around facing the hell hound. There were six left. One was badly wounded though. The other five were still heading towards me. Behind me Alex and Hectar had noticed that I had fallen. What they did surprised me a great deal. They turned around, they were running towards me and the hell hounds. Maybe they were braver than I thought. The first hell hound that got to me lunged at me trying to bite me in the neck. I cut it down before it reached me. Fighting these things while on the ground wasn't all too bad. Alex and Hectar were each fighting a hell hound. The others were coming towards me. I didn't think I could take them both out before one got me. If they attacked simultaneously it would be the end of me.

That's when I saw a car near us. A white van if I could believe my eyes. I wondered what mortal would see. Three teenagers slaughtering some helpless dogs? Probably, teenagers were bad news in any adult mind. The hell hounds coming towards me seemed to be distracted by the headlights of the car. The hell hounds fighting Alex and Hectar seemed much less interested. The van was going too fast for my liking. No one went that fast when he saw dogs and teenagers. The hell hound in the car's direct line noticed that too. He jumped to the right when the van came too close but the driver swerved into the hell hound. It squealed as it got knocked away at least 20 feet. The driver punched the brakes just before running into me. Who was this driver? He had just hit a hell hound on purpose and stopped now. This was no hit and run. That's when the window of the car started coming down. Behind it appeared blonde hair, a teenagers face and a cheeky smile.

"Missed me?" Luke was back. I wondered how he got the car but I could pretty much figure it out. "Come on get in." Luke opened the door from the inside, it nearly hit me in the face but that didn't bother me. I pulled myself up and sat down in the passengers seat. Luke put his foot on the gas, stopped to let Alex and Hectar in through the back (who had killed their hell hounds by now.) and he drove off.


	26. City of Fallen Angels

Chapter 26: The city of fallen Angels

Thanks to ambrosia my wound healed quickly. Alex and Hectar had some nectar to clear up their cuts and bruises. They had come out of this fight unharmed but they had made the same travel Luke and I had. Luke seemed fine, we hadn't really talked about his leaving yet. I figured it had to wait until Alex and Hectar were sleeping. We were going to get to Los Angeles now, there was no time for stops or anything. Every time we stopped something tried to kill us so we weren't making that mistake any more. It would be nearly a full day to get there but it didn't matter. It was better than losing another car or running into any more monsters. Alex and Hectar couldn't drive (well mostly Luke and I didn't trust them behind the wheel so we convinced them that both of us had been driving for years.) It was night now, I was driving. We figured that was most logical. Luke would sleep during the night and I would sleep during the day. I was more active at night anyway so it was fine by me. We would only have to do two switches. I would drive through tonight, then Luke would take over in the morning and I would take us the final bit. It wasn't a big deal. The first part of the drive was hellish though. Jones and Garner were singing along, laughing and not doing the one thing that I wanted them to do which was go to freaking sleep. Luke was driving shot gun and while Alex and Hectar were singing along with the radio I whispered.

"Do you think anyone would miss them if we did them in right now?" Luke looked back at them to see them using two bronze daggers as microphones and making weird faces. He looked back at me with sincerity in his face.

"I highly doubt that." The trip went on like that for a while. It was past midnight when Alex and Hectar finally lost their energy and fell asleep. Luke and I were sitting there, we both knew we had to talk but we didn't know where to start. The radio was playing. There was a song by Rise Against playing, apparently it was from their new album. It was pretty good, I did think Rise against had better albums. It was hard to beat Appeal to Reason, their 2008 album.

"So what did you do after you left?" I asked simply. I didn't sound very angry but I was. He had come back (perfectly timed as well.) but that didn't change that he left. He had given up for a while, how could I be sure that he wouldn't again?

"I walked to Howardwick, Iris messaged Maria." Luke said. I figured she must haven been happy that was on his way home. Her boyfriend was safe, she should have been happy. "I thought she would be happy but instead she was pissed off. She couldn't believe I let you continue on your own. She said that if she saw me back at camp without seeing this through till the end she would drop kick me to Los Angeles." Luke laughed a bit. He sure had a girlfriend with some fire burning inside.

"Why didn't she do that in the first place? Would have been faster." I joked. We didn't laugh, laughing seemed harder now. When we started the road was filled with jokes. Now every joke we cracked, quiet followed.

"By the way there's something you should know." Luke said sincerely. I wondered what now. Every time there was something I had to know I heard bad news. It made me less eager to hear these things every single time. "There's someone else missing from camp. I think he's come after us as well." Luke said. I wondered who that could be. Who else would try to find us without permission? Alex and Hectar were stupid enough to do that but who else was? Luke probably saw that I was trying to figure out who it was, so without waiting for an answer he spoke. "Lucio Fortis. He left shortly after Alex and Hectar did and he's a lot more resourceful, especially now that he's angry." Lucio, son of Hypnos. The guy had tried to kill me once before and apparently he hadn't given up yet.

"Do you have any idea where he is?" I asked. Was there a chance that he was right behind us? I doubted it. How was he supposed to get here? He seemed smart enough not to hitch-hike but he was way too young to drive himself. How was he supposed to get to Los Angeles? I worried about him. He had tried to kill me but I didn't feel a grudge against him. I understood his rage, I just wished he could let it go.

"Nah, but I think we'll run into him somewhere along the road. He's obviously very determined to kill you." Luke said. He seemed to feel less bad about it than I did. I think he understood like I did but in the end this didn't really involve him. He had been friends with Evie but he had gotten through his grief. But Lucio hadn't. He still had all that rage cropped up inside and the only way that was going to come out was if he fought me. So what was I supposed to do? At this moment in time nothing at all. Better to just keep going, there more more important matters going on.

"Anything else I should know?" Luke obviously had more knowledge about what was going on than I did. He still had contact with camp unlike me. I didn't even know how to Iris message. Even if I did the only one I would want to talk to was Grace at the moment. Who else would I want to speak to?

"Nothing really." Luke said. The song ended as Luke and I fell into silence again. The next song was fitting I suppose. Paradise city by Guns N Roses. It was about Los Angeles, a good song. And given where we were going very fitting. I turned it up a slight but praying Hectar and Alex wouldn't wake up. I listened to the song as I continued to drive down route 66. Luke had fallen asleep by the song's end. I was still wide awake.

I drove for hours just wondering about what I would come across in Los Angeles. I was actually kind of happy that there weren't any people left that knew me. Those that did were probably dead or spread around other orphanages and other than the orphans there was only one man that I knew over there. Lou Seyja. The person who changed Michael, and therefore he changed me. I hung around him a lot in my last year at the orphanages. He was an all right guy and taught me a lot of things...things I'd love to forget. If anyone made me a good killer...it was Lou. He taught me so much 'useless things. Lou thought knowing every vital blood artery in the human body was useless. It had made kill quite easy over the years. Of course Colt didn't use it to kill...he used it not to kill. He avoided everything vital so that the pain would last. He had a mind for killing that was for sure. I remembered the first time I actually talked to Lou. It wasn't long after Peter got stabbed by little Ed.

"Do you think he'll make it?" I asked as Peter was carried onto the ambulance. I was scared even though I had an expressionless face. I couldn't show weakness in the orphanage, not even for a second. Even among my friends I could never be weak. It was hard sometimes but over the years I had grown quite cold, it got easier to know no sadness or pain.

"He should be fine." Lou said calmly. This was his job, he couldn't show a sign of weakness either. While we stood there he got a pack of Marlboro cigarettes out of his pocket, got one cigarette out and stuck it between his lips. As he put the pack back in his pocket he pulled out a simple electric lighter and lit his cigarette. The tip burned and Lou started to smoke his cigarette, it seemed to make him a bit calmer. Back then I hadn't smoked yet. I had my first cigarette when I turned eleven. At this moment I didn't even feel the urge to smoke even though pretty much everyone else did, I thought the addiction would only slow me down. I never really got hooked as I stuck with the occasional cigarette, but I was sure that it would have slowed me down even now. Of course a slowed down me wasn't such a bad thought, not in those days anyway.

"How do you think someone could think of doing this? Without any reason or cause, how would they think of this?" I had seen so much violence at the orphanage but no one had ever tried to kill my best friend without there being any kind of fight or struggle. Ed had gone straight for the kill. I wondered how he thought of doing that, maybe Lou knew. Of course he didn't know any of this involved Ed. No ratting, that was the most important rule at the orphanage. You never ratted on anyone. The story here was that I found Peter and no one saw what happened, even Peter didn't say a word, but he was in shock so that didn't really count.

"Many men have done things no one can explain." Lou said as he took a pull from his cigarette. I didn't really understand what he meant at that time. Lou's teachings of serial killers and methods of murder came much later. At that time I thought what Ed did was the worst thing anyone had done, even my revenge was an act of lesser evil in my opinion.

"Do you think I could do that sort of things?" I asked him. I didn't know Lou very well at this moment in time. I didn't think he would answer normally. After all I just asked him if he expected me to be able of stabbing someone in the shoulder with a screwdriver. Not something you normally ask your medical adviser. He looked at me with wide open eyes, the cigarette was still clenched between his lips. He took it out without taking a pull this time, his eyes remained focused on me.

"I doubt it Michael. The way you took care of your friend today. I don't think you're capable of intentionally hurting someone like this." Lou said. I remember his words to this day. Then they made sense to me, now I wished he had been right. I remembered that when I killed Ed, Quinn, William and whoever else came after his words echoed through my head. How wrong he had been. It never made sense to me why he told me all the things he did. Maybe it was because he believed I wasn't capable of hurting someone in the ways he taught me. Maybe it was like he said, he needed someone to tell these useless things. I wondered how he never found anything out though. I used torture methods he taught me on Seth. How could he not have seen that? I would probably never find out. I had no intention of seeing Lou ever again, that seemed for the better. Although I wondered where he went after the orphanage closed. Maybe he had started working at a proper hospital, maybe he had quit doing anything with medics. He always said he had seen enough blood in one year at the orphanage than most doctors would see in ten years. It always seemed far fetched to me. But he would know better than I would. Lou always was a mystery to me. It didn't really matter but going to my old home town made me think of him more than anything. He had been one of my two parental figures I guess. My mom of course, what little I remembered of her were good things. And then there was Lou. He had taught me more than my mom, than my dad or Jake for that matter. They may not have been good things. But hell no father is perfect. It was stupid, but if you're a kid living in the orphanage of hell you're ready to cling onto anything that resembles normal. In my mind I started bringing up more memories of Lou than I originally planned to. But it made the lonely drive easier.

I went on through the night listening to music and staring at the road ahead of me until Alex and Hectar woke up at about 8 in the morning. They continued as if they never slept at all chanting and screaming away. It made the drive a lot more annoying. Not long after that Luke woke up. We stopped at the nearest gas station, fuelled up, got something to munch on and left. The whole ten minutes in the store I had my hands in my pockets ready to grab Shadow-edge at any time. Of course the one time I'm ready for it nothing happens. I could have known that from the start. There was no one in the store other than Luke and I and the guy behind the counter was about my age wearing doofy glasses, a stupid looking work outfit with an oversized hat and had serious acne issues. He was certainly not a monster but I didn't want to take any risk. As soon as we got back into the car I fell asleep. I was exhausted, I didn't know why exactly but some sleep in times like these worked miracles. Of course some actual sleep without nightmare's was too much to ask.

I was alone on some kind of mountain. I knew what mountain it was. This was where Jake, Ashlyn, Sophie and Darius fought Hyperion. I saw Jake, Sophie and Ashlyn standing there, Darius was no where to be seen. I figured this must have been after the fight. Ashlyn and Sophie had tears rolling over their cheeks. Jake was standing over the edge of the mountain. Not long ago Hyperion had let out a burst of energy that blew him right off the mountain, no one could have survived that. And now they were realizing that their dear friend was gone. I knew what this was like. First they wouldn't believe it, he was fine, he couldn't be dead. They were lucky that they didn't have to see his lifeless body. If you saw your friends lifeless body there was no phase of denial, you couldn't deny what your eyes showed you. Of course they wouldn't realize that luck. When a friend died luck wasn't a thing you thought of. It was all I got to see of this moment. The scene shifted. I wondered why I dreamed about that. Usually my dreams had meaning, something I had to get out of it or something I needed to know but how was that particular moment important? I didn't have long to think about it.

I saw Samael and Maximus. They were standing in front of a metal gate with wooden boards saying do not enter. I knew this building, although I couldn't believe the state it was in. The three buildings looked like ruins. It was the sort of place kids would dare each other to enter. Rumble everywhere, stone, wood and other construction material. It didn't look like a very happy place, of course the orphanage never was. That wasn't what was important here. The question was, what were Samael and Maximus doing here, and was Phthonos there too?

"Are you sure he'll come here?" Maximus asked. They stood in front of the gate seemingly without purpose. What were they doing there? There was nothing of importance there, it was just a run down orphanage.

"Oh he'll come." Samael answered with certainty. Who was he talking about? Phthonos or me? Maybe it wasn't either. Just seeing them there...it made me want to go. I had to go there, if Samael and Maximus were there. I would be on my way. They started pulling down the boards and cut the chain lock of the gate. The gate opened with a crack. How long had it been closed? Samael and Maximus walked on the orphanage grounds, memories returned to me. They sat down on some broken pieces of stone and wood and waited. "He'll be here soon enough."

I woke up late, very late. I had slept through the entire day (and Alex and Hectar's hyper hours thank gods.) It was dark outside, I couldn't even find the moon and there were very few stars in the sky. Luke was still driving the car. The road wasn't empty like the night before. There were a few people driving. Of course these were busier roads. We were hitting California very soon.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" I asked. Luke shouldn't have to drive for this length of time. We should have switched at about eight while it was past ten already.

"You deserve some sleep." Luke said.

"I was asleep for a full day not long ago." I was feeling tired even though I had. Apparently that wasn't just sleep, that was sleep or die and when you wake up you'll still feel tired as hell.

"Yeah I guess." Luke stayed behind the wheel. He didn't seem to have the intention of changing seats. In that case I just stayed put. Luke was a better driver than I was. So if he wanted to drive I let him. I sat straight up and looked outside of the window. At every crossing I was afraid to see that black SUV again. When Luke drove up to us with a car it was get in or get eaten, But now I was sitting here and had nothing to think about other than Samael trying to kill us or slowing us down. I was never sure which one it was. I hadn't told Luke about my dream yet, maybe I shouldn't. Luke seemed to want to go straight to the underworld. I had been told the entrance was in some kind of recording studio. I didn't really know for sure. I wondered if I had ever seen the entrance to the underworld. I had roamed the streets of Los Angeles for a while, it was likely that I had. "So did you have any dreams?" Luke asked. For a second I doubted about lying but in the end I decided against that. I had asked I had to tell the truth.

"I saw Jake, Sophie and Ashlyn right after the defeated Hyperion. And then I saw Samael and Maximus at the orphanage I grew up in." I said.

"We're not going there." I didn't understand Luke's problem. I hadn't even said that I wanted to but I did. If we could beat Samael and Max there we didn't even have to go to the underworld. It seemed like a better plan to me.

"Why not?" I had to know why Luke was so snappish on the subject. What had changed over the course of day?

"Look Angel." Luke seemed to doubt again I seriously wondered what was going on in his head. "Every time we stopped for anything we nearly died. And you heard the prophecy. 'Alone the lord of the dead he shall face'." Luke quoted. "I don't know who Rachel meant here but one of us will head down towards Hades alone and there's four of us left. Maybe only one of us actually gets to speak to him or something like that but what if the prophecy means that everyone else died? That line is part of the reason why I didn't want to go on Angel. If you were alone then it would definitely be you. Then I thought about it. What if none of us actually meet him, what if one of us died. Then I had send you into certain death. This line Angel, it's the worst of the bunch." I had to agree with Luke. The others I didn't really understand but this one line, I knew that was bad.

"Okay then, let's head to Hades...all of us." I said. Now Luke shook his head. What was his problem now.

"We're not taking them two." Luke shook his head towards the back. "They're not ready to go to a place like the underworld. Hades won't like us being down there and it's going to be hard enough to get two living past Charon." Luke said. I figured he was right. He knew more about these things than I did or anyone else I knew for that matter. "It's better to keep them away from Hades as long as possible." That's when I noticed something about Luke I always knew but never realized. He cared about everyone, not just Maria or his friends, everyone. He thought Hectar and Alex were just as annoying as I did but he still cared about there safety. I would have their backs in a fight but I wasn't nearly as protective as Luke was. After I nodded the quiet returned. We drove to my home town in silence. Seeing the Los Angeles skyline from the road was weird to me. I remembered how I had left Los Angeles after the robbery and what I did to my room-mates, now I was returning in order to defeat a god. I had gone up in the world. The city hadn't changed much. I still saw the same streets, it was just as busy and you had to turn your head away from most alleyways in order to stay sane. It was a beautiful city on the surface but if you had seen it's back streets and alley's it was hardly beautiful. Maybe that was only my experience, many people loved LA even when they had seen it's ugly face.

"So do you know where we are going?" I asked Luke. He usually seemed to know but did he know where the entrance to the underworld was?

"Kinda." That didn't give me much hope. LA was hard to navigate through at times, especially when it 's busy. But Luke seemed to know where he was going, maybe he was just making random turns though. As we hit the same crossroad for the third time I realized:

"You have no idea do you?" I asked.

"Nope."

"Ah come on!"

"We've been driving around for like an hour!" The protests from the back continued. I just started to go through my every memory. I knew I had heard about DOA recording studios before but where. Did I see it? I searched my memories for every street I had ever walked through, I still knew Los Angeles pretty well. I looked everywhere in my mind for DOA recording studios, until I found it.

"I know where it is." Every head in the car turned towards me. "I saw it when I was a kid, not long after my mom died." Coincidence never left me alone. I had to start wondering, was it really coincidence. I gave Luke the directions from where we were. My memory was weird like that. I forgot about things easily but once I remembered I knew every little detail. And as I thought, there we were. DOA studios. Even from outside the place seemed cold. Luke parked the car not far from the main entrance. He had driven all the way ever since I fell asleep that morning. I was quite impressed with Luke. He had his doubts along the road but he had stuck around even now we were going to go towards the underworld. I barely had a choice in doing this, it was pretty much my only purpose in life. But Luke was doing this willingly, I was amazed by how strong and loyal he was. It was something I had never seen in a person. Even the friends I used to call families didn't know loyalty this way. I still cared about Pete, Joey and Eve, I always would. But in a situation like this would they fight alongside me till the end like Luke? I wasn't sure that they would.

"Awesome, underworld time." Jones said. We hadn't really told them that they weren't coming, we weren't going to either. As they tried to step out of the back of the van Luke and I looked at each other and nodded. Simultaneously we both hooked one of the two. I hit Alex straight in the face (I won't lie given how annoying he could be I kinda enjoyed it) and Luke knocked out Hectar.

"Think they'll understand why we did this?" I asked Luke as I closed the doors of the van.

"I highly doubt it." Luke looked the car with the laser key he held in his hands. After that we had to go in. We stood in front of the door for a while, we both doubted. I didn't want to be the first entering and Luke didn't either. Maybe we were just being stupid but this is the underworld we're talking about. Eventually neither of us had to open the door. They opened without either of us moving an inch. We knew there was no way back, we had to go in.

Inside was just as easily described as outside. Cold, the carpets and walls were steel grey and the lighting was so bright that it hurt your eyes. It reminded me of the thirteenth floor. There were a few leather couches and chairs there, an elevator at the north end of the room and a stage like stand on which stood a dark skinned man. There were more people there sitting on the couches and chairs, they seemed to be waiting for their bus or something like that. I wondered why they were there. What I did know was who the dark skinned man was. He wore a white Italian suit that matched his military styled hair. He wore shades and had a little smile on his face. He had a name tag on his left chest: Charon. This was the ferryman, the one that would bring me and Luke into the underworld.

"What's this?" Charon talked smoothly with a sense of evil in his voice. He was on a raised podium in front of us. "Two living godlings walking into my little palace, should I be flattered?" At first Charon doesn't really resemble your standard version of evil. He was a sharp dressed man if anything.

"We need to speak with Hades." I asked. I didn't want to make small talk with the ferryman of the dead. Better to get past him as quickly as possible. Of course pissing him off wasn't a smart idea. This guy probably packed a lot of punch, I couldn't know for sure. As far as I knew no one ever got into a fight with him.

"You want to speak with the man downstairs?" Charon raised his eyebrows and looked down on us making his shades slide down his nose. I could see his eyes now, eyes of a dead man. They were empty and without any sign of life. I had seen someone die. And that was the empty vacant stare of a corpse. "Even the dead rarely get that right. How do you expect a living godling like you gets to?" Charon said.

"It's about his daughter." Luke looked at me with a look that pretty much could be the described: 'What the fuck are you doing!' I had known for a while now that Athena never told Hades about us being on our way. She never struck some kind of deal with him. The only way we would get Hades to help out was by using his deceased daughter. It might be harsh, but Hades would only be temped with revenge. I felt bad using Jeni like that, I had only met her once but she was all right.

"Well in that case..." A smile appeared on Charon's face. His teeth were sparkling white and again I could see those dead eyes. He stared at me as if he was reading my mind. I wondered if he could actually do that. "It will be one drachma for the both of you." Charon stuck out his open hand. I knew there had to be a catch. I looked at Luke hoping for some advice. He went into his pocket and took out a drachma. He mouthed the words 'last one' and passed it to me. So there I was ready to give the last of our divine money to the ferryman. I was just stretching out my arm to pass him the coin when he closed his hand. "Before you do, I implore you to look over at that couch to the left." If I hadn't, Luke and I would have entered the underworld together, things might have been completely different. But I looked. There on the couch sat a girl. She had straight hair, wore ripped up jeans, dirty shoes and a simple t-shirt. She was about ten years old and was pretty. It was a girl I knew very well. "Peter and Joey were brought down years ago, Joey right after he died. The cops paid for his funeral and we just added his soul being shipped downstairs to the bill. Peter had a grandpa who had some savings for little Pete. It wasn't much but it was enough. Poor little Eve, she had nothing. No one paid a dime for her. No one cared." I tried not to listen to Charon. He was trying to get to me. I didn't know why, but I knew the methods better than anyone. Inside my head lived a guy who used them whenever he could. I walked over to her. She seemed so much weaker than she did. She had been sitting here for six years.

"Eve?" I tried. She didn't seem to hear me. She had a vacant stare and looked like she was barely there. She was dead after all. The burning marks I saw on her when I found her were gone. She had clearer skin than she ever had. But here she was. She had died in a horrible way, and she hadn't even been allowed a final resting place. "Eve?" I tried again as tears started to form in the corners of my eyes.

"She can't hear you." Charon said. He had no emotion in his voice. He didn't feel a thing for any of these dead souls. I didn't really care for them. But this was Eve. She had been part of my self acclaimed family. She didn't deserve this.

"One drachma?" I asked. Charon nodded. Luke knew what I was going to do. I doubt he liked it all that much but he didn't protest. I flipped the coin towards Charon. "Give her some peace." I said. I knew I should have done that. I should have gotten Luke and me into the underworld. But I owed her this much. When Charon put the coin in his pocket, Eve's endless gaze broke. She looked up at me and tried to smile.

"Thank you." Now the tears started to roll. Back when I knew her I was a few inches taller, now I towered above her. I wondered what she would have looked like if she had become my age. I wondered what my life would have been like if she had never died. It would have been different, I would have so much less to redeem myself for. Not for Seth, William or Quinn. And if she had been there...I wouldn't have done what I did to that cop or to anyone I killed later in life. Because I would have someone there with me, and even though I didn't always succeed I tried to hide my vile side from Eve whenever I could. But she had died, but at least now she could have her eternal peace. Another tear ran over my face as Charon took her into the elevator at the north end of the room, and left Luke and I waiting. Charon wasn't going to let us into the underworld any time soon.

Luke and I left DOA recording studios defeated. Where would we go from here? We couldn't get into the underworld, we didn't have any drachmas (or dollars) left and we were both so tired. Alex and Hectar were still knocked out in the back of the van. Luke and I sat in the front for a while not knowing what to do. I sat in front of the wheel, Luke was tired of driving. He went for shotgun leaving the driver's seat for me. I didn't know what to do. We'd failed. We weren't getting into the underworld, not any time soon. Well...there was a way of course. It was a plan I had been considering for a while now. There had been many things I had been secretly considering. I had never shared them with Luke or Maximus because I was scared to. Some of them were really bad ideas. Although I knew I would have to share them soon enough, but not now. It was a last resort back up plan that I wouldn't share until we needed it. Eventually I pushed my foot on the gas. Luke wasn't going to like this, but it was the last shot we had at ending this before my last resort.

"Angel where are we going?" Luke asked me. He knew, he just wanted me to say that I wasn't going there.

"We're going to meet Samael and Max." It seemed like the best thing to do. It was a trap no doubt but if we could defeat them then Phthonos wouldn't have any candidates to make his ultimate minion.

"No man, no!" Luke said, but he wasn't behind the wheel any more. "You know it's a fucking trap!" I knew, that didn't change anything. Luke threw a few more reasons why we shouldn't go to the orphanage around. He was right about all of them but I had to try this. So I drove to the place I used to know as home. I knew exactly where to go, it was a few traffic jams away from DOA recording studios though. When we got there I felt light in my head. I had seen this place in my dream but seeing it for real again, it was weird. It had been home, but it had been a horrible place. I had a lot of good memories, and a lot more bad ones. This building had been my life for years, and returning to it now wasn't something I saw as a good thing. I stopped the car in front of the gate and got out of the car. Luke got out as well.

"Are you sure they are here?" I just nodded. They wouldn't show themselves from the start, but they were here. I walked on, through the gate and into the courtyard. It was exactly like I saw it in my dream. A wasteland of stone, steel and wood. The building left of gate was north dorm, it also had the lobby and the offices. It was still in pretty good shape compared to the other two building. Across from us was the burned down ruin of south dorm, Eve had died there. Then there were east and west which looked like they were about really to crumble down. For a second I wanted to look inside East dorm, just to see what it was like. How much had changed, was my room still there? So many questions. I wasn't going to get them answered. As we got further towards the end of the courtyard behind us the gate closed. Luke and I turned around lightning quick and we both drew our weapons. There at the gate, stood Lou Seyja. Luke didn't know what to think, and I was stunned.

"Hello Michael, I knew you'd return here eventually." Lou said. How could he be here? Why was he here? I hadn't seen Lou in years and here he was at the orphanage where I met him. I stood there with Shadow-edge in my hand. I couldn't move, I couldn't think. I didn't understand anything any more. Who was he? Lou walked past Luke and I. He walked towards the ruin of south dorm. He looked down on the trap door that lead to the basement where I tortured Seth into madness. "I remember when we pulled him out of here. I was so proud, I had taught you a lot about torture but that you were able to do it so well. Of course I could have known. You killed Ed when he hurt your friends, Seth knew who killed your girlfriend." Lou smiled. He knew I killed Ed and tortured Seth? He was proud of me? How could he think like that. I knew Lou wasn't really normal but this was mad. "Then William and Quinn, now that made you one promising candidate. You were perfect. Of course I meant for you to be that way. Just like Max, I controlled you. You just didn't know."

"No...NO!" It couldn't be. It couldn't be him. He had to be lying! That's when Lou's face changed. He looked younger, more perfect. His simple clothes turned into a fancy suit and his eyes went from their normal green to a piercing blood thirsty red.

"Oh it's me all right." Phthonos said. I couldn't believe the truth. Was this really happening? Was the man that taught me so much really a lie? What did that make me? Was I anything but a puppet? Jake's plans, Phthonos being the one that turned me into a monster, was there any choice I had made myself? All these questions, I couldn't answer them. The despair couldn't be taken away, all I could do was turn it into anger. I regained control over my body. I was going to kill Phthonos for this. He had controlled myself, turned a simple boy into a master of murder and torture and now he was trying to kill everything I cared about. He wasn't going to get away with any of that. I would make sure of it.

"I'll kill you Phthonos!" I charged. Shadow-edge seemed to grow heavier, but stronger. When I was about 10 feet away from Phthonos I jumped. I was about to make the biggest mistake of my life. In half a second my sword would hit Phthonos making it possible for him to kill me in the nastiest ways possible. But someone held me back. As I swung down my sword my weapon connecting with something. Maximus stood besides Phthonos and held his sword in front of him. Maximus had defended his master, or at least that's what I thought at the time. It would take me a long time to realize that Maximus wasn't protecting Phthonos, he was protecting me. If my blade had connected with Phthonos he would have killed me. But instead Maximus stopped me. Of course, I thought he was attacking me. With incredible strength he brought his sword down and pushed me backwards. I landed on my feet but was amazed with Max's incredible strength. That's how Max and I started our fight. Neither of us landed a single hit. We were perfect equals when it came to strength. I wondered if that was true or if we were both holding back. The truth was I didn't want to kill Max, and he didn't want to kill me. All our attacks were easily blocked or parried and we both knew exactly how strong we were, it wasn't hard adapting to each other. Our fight was more blocking than either of us trying to go for the kill. Behind me Luke was ready to join the struggle. He sprinted towards Max and I but was intercepted by no one other than Samael. He looked ever worse than when he tried to kill us near Oklahoma city. He also had a new sword (of course I hadn't actually seen his sword since I took Shadow-edge from him.) It was a celestial bronze blade with a hilt black as night. The blade was crooked and was much longer than Shadow-edge was. Was this Phthonos' gift to Samael? I doubted it was Shadow-edge, if it was he would have wanted it back but he never seemed to have those intentions. He ran past Luke and in his sprint Cut Luke in the leg. Luke fell forwards and hit the floor. His leg was bleeding badly and without nectar or ambrosia he wouldn't be walking any time soon. Now Samael was coming towards me. I was able to fight Max and Samael individually (or so I believed) but together I didn't stand a chance. I doubled my speed as Samael tried to strike me as well as Maximus. Of course Samael did want to hurt me. And it wasn't long before he did. With Samael's skill and speed and the giant reach of his sword he got through my defence easily. He stabbed his sword into my right shoulder, the same should he stabbed me in last time. The wound we shared on opposites sides, and Samael just reopened mine.

"What do you think of Chaos-Eater Michael?" Samael asked. "Pretty neat huh?" I couldn't speak, my shoulder hurt too much. He pushed his sword down forcing me to my knees. "That was the old wound wasn't it?" Samael said as he pushed the blade a little further into my shoulder. "Maxi, fetch the pendant for me." The pendant? What pendant did he mean? Maximus walked over to me and reached in my pockets. He pulled out a small silver pendant in the shape of an owl, the Messor pendant. He threw it to Samael who caught it with his left arm. His reaction seemed a bit off, was his arm still hurting from when I stabbed him? My shoulder had healed fine, until Samael stabbed me again. "Shiny." Samael said. As he inspected the pendant. When he finished inspecting it he pushed the owl and it changed into a shiny silver dagger. Samael looked at the dagger, and then cut his right arm with it. For a moment he looked weakened, he was breathing heavily and he looked like he was going to pass out. Then he smiled, a crooked smile which held his sadistic pleasure for pain. He started raising his sword. Only he wasn't just raising his sword, he was raising me. This strength was inhuman, even Ares kids couldn't do that with such ease. He pulled me up until I was at least a feet of the ground, then he pulled in his sword making me come towards him. He raised his leg and kicked me in my chest. With incredible speed I was blown backwards, Samael's kick had literally blown me away. I bounced of the concrete ground of the courtyard. I realized what Samael had in his hands. That was the real Messor still holding some of Hyperion's power. If that was just a tiny bit still held up in the dagger. What would he be able to do if he had all of Hyperion's power? "Oh yeah, this is the real one."

"Good." Phthonos said. "I have to thank you for bringing it safely Michael. And you Luke." Phthonos mocked us. I didn't even know I had a copy of Messor.

"You had it all this time?" Luke asked me. I had no idea, but Luke apparently thought I had been keeping it a secret.

"Oh no Luke." Phthonos said. "Michael had no idea, well part of him didn't. When you were out chatting with your girlfriend Colt woke up and went to a small suburban house and got this copy of Messor. We agreed ages ago to meet here once you and Angel had hit Los Angeles and so he did. Even though Angel thinks he chose to come here it was Colt at the time." Colt had driven us here? But I remembered, how could that be? Could he take over so easily? And that dream I had when I was in coma...that was real? Colt was doing that while I dreamed. It was all so confusing. "Anyway, we have places to be. Soon my son and Max will be more powerful than any mortal being alive. They will destroy your precious camp and end mortal life." Phthonos had an evil smile on his face. He had won. He had Messor, he had his candidates and he probably knew where Hyperion was ever since this all started. It was all over.


	27. Last Resort

Chapter 27: Last Resort

They all disappeared as if they were never there. Luke and I were left bleeding in the courtyard. I couldn't even move. Every inch of my body hurt. My shoulder emitted a burning pain and the rest of my body was bruised from my bouncing ball experience. Luke was still on the ground with his leg cut wide open. Luke knew as well as I did that we had failed. We couldn't get into the underworld and there was no way we could stop Phthonos by ourselves. Even my last resort plan probably wouldn't help. But I had to try, if I could only get up. It was surprising to me but it was Hectar and Alex who saved us in the end. They got the nectar and ambrosia squares we had left and got us fixed up. Luke's wound healed quickly, for me it took a bit longer to fully recover. Not just physically, mentally as well. I had just found out that the man who shaped a part of who I was had been a lie. That our quest was hopeless and worst of all that soon there was no hope for anyone any more. If Phthonos succeeded...I didn't even want to think about it. There was one more way I hoped I could stop all of this, but I didn't know how to tell the others. It was quite a stupid plan but it was our last chance. Everyone had given up. Even Alex and Hectar were down. We all sat in the back of the van just staring at something random. I myself stared at a blue paint stain on the floor. Eventually I looked up, I would tell them what I had been thinking for a while now.

"Guys, there's something I've been considering." Everyone looked up, they didn't say anything but apparently they were all eager to hear. "I can head to the underworld through shadow travel." I knew it was stupid. Last time it tired me out so much that I was knocked out for a full day. But now I wouldn't be taking anyone. If I was shadow travelling I was going alone. Secondly the darkness in the underworld was intense, it was stronger than anywhere in the world of the living. It should make shadow travel far easier. It was the only way I knew to get in the underworld, the thing was that it would mean that the prophecy was right. I would face Hades alone.

"Cool, haven't done that before." Hectar said. "I wonder if there's cheese in the underworld. What would underworld cheese taste like?" I wondered about Hectar's obsession with cheese many times. First I thought that the guy just really loved cheese but he knew things about cheese I didn't even want to know. If you spend a full day with Hectar Garner you won't eat cheese ever again.

"Well let's do it. The four of us down in the underworld fighting of anything the lord of the dead throw at is...THIS IS SO COOL!" Alex had his hyper activeness back. They obviously didn't realize that I wouldn't be taking them. Luke sat across from me with a 'good luck out there mate' kind of look. He knew.

"What do you want us to do?" Luke asked. It was a logical question and one I had thought about.

"I want you three to find Lucio."

"Wait so we're not going?" Alex asked. He didn't seem worried about me going alone or happy that he didn't have to walk the realm of the dead. No this brainiac felt sad about not getting to risk his life in the underworld.

"So no underworld cheese, dammit." Hectar and cheese...I never understood.

"We knocked you out earlier because we didn't want you to go." Luke said. He didn't understand that they hadn't realized that we didn't want them parading down in the underworld. Later in life I would joke about this saying it was disrespectful to the dead to bring them to down there.

"When did you do that?" Alex asked. At this point I wondered if I'd hit him so hard that I gave him short term memory loss. I had a good hook but this was completely new to me. "No one ever knocked me out. I have never..." I didn't know why Luke got so ticked off by Alex now. Usually he was a calm guy, it took a lot to annoy him. But now Alex got Luke to punch him straight in the face. Just like before Alex went down. Hectar looked at it with wide open eyes until he cracked up. Even his best friend found it funny when he got knocked out. I started to wonder if Alex was popular around camp. If he was always as annoying as I knew him...I didn't think so.

"So why Lucio?" Luke asked me. He seemed very relieved punching Alex. Maybe punching someone that seriously annoyed him was what he needed at that specific moment in time.

"I know this may sound weird, and it's a long shot because I doubt that he wants to help us. But if he's willing to, I think he can help us get rid of Colt for good." Luke seemed surprised about that. I hadn't told him about it because if I was correct it could go either way. Either I could end up destroying Colt, or he'd end up destroying me. It was a last resort bet I was willing to take. I knew that if I faced Phthonos with Colt still inside my head Colt would take over to get the power instead of Max and Samael. If I was going to face Phthonos having Colt in my head was going to make me lose. I had to get rid of him and this was the only way.

"How do you think that will work?" I figured it out a while ago. Explaining it was going to be tough though.

"Well basically Colt is in my subconscious right? In dreams you reach into your subconscious so I think I can meet Colt in my dreams if I'm in deep enough sleep. That's where Lucio comes in. If he can bring me in the same deep sleep that Evie used to bring back my memories that should be enough for me to meet Colt in the depths of my mind. And theoretically if I can meet him, I can fight him." I knew the plan was flawed and that it might not even work but it was worth the try.

"So theoretically, if you fight and lose..." Luke said.

"Then I'm gone." That was the danger of the plan. I knew that the chance of me beating Colt in a fight was slim but I had to try. As long as Colt was in my head I would be a danger to everyone around me. I had to get rid of him once and for all. Luke nodded. Outside it was dark, if I was going to go to the underworld I had to go now. I got out of the car ready to shadow travel for the second time.

"How will you find us?" Luke asked. I had asked myself this too. I wasn't exactly sure but I had an idea.

"We'll meet at the motel we stayed in near Tulsa in three days. If you have Lucio or not go there. If I'm not there get to camp and prepare them for the fight of their lives." I said. I wondered what I sounded like taking the lead. I had never been the leader type but now I was taking the lead of this quest. I just nodded as I closed the door of the van. It drove off into the night. I hoped they would find Lucio, else I would have to use another method. I wasn't sure if a narcotic like morphine would work but if Lucio wasn't found or didn't want to help us it was the only thing we could do. Now I had more important things to do though. I wasn't looking forward to shadow travelling again, so I guess I waited for a while. Instead of shadow travelling immediately I went back into the courtyard of the orphanage and walked into the east dorm. The hallway looked exactly the same. The cold white with no drawings or anything that made it feel like home. Mrs Riley never tried to make the orphanage a home, she probably didn't care. I still knew which room was mine, E23. East, second floor, third room. The room looked the same as it did when I first entered. On first glance there was little William and I could change, but there was so much hidden underneath. My mattress had been cut on one side by a butterfly knife. It was a big knife and neither of us knew for sure how to use it and as we were messing around with it I kind a ripped up my mattress. Peter and I turned it around so no one noticed it and no one ever did. There were other things. We had a BB gun hidden in that very same mattress. We got it a few months after the mattress incident and we needed somewhere to hide it so we used the rip. I remembered when we shot some guys from north dorm with it, the had no idea it was us. There was the ash stain on the windowsill. In our last few weeks in the orphanage William and I smoked cigarettes on our room with the window opened. On time Mrs. Riley pounded on the door saying she smelled something funny coming from our room. William had dropped the cigarette on the windowsill and it´s ashes had left a stain on the pale white paint. It would have been easily removable but William and I never got round to it.

I could have stood there for hours but there would be no point. I would have time for reminders when I was out of the underworld. That was what important now, I had to get to the realm of the dead, speak to Hades and get the hell out. Of course I hoped Hades would help us out, else I didn't know what to do but at the time I doubted that he actually would. But I had to try, if not I would have already failed. So I went into the shadows, just like I had before. The darkness seemed kinder now. Maybe it was because I was alone now or because I was stronger. Maybe it was an entirely different reason, I'll never know. To me it was less impressive and scary than before. There was darkness, there were whispers, big deal. Just as I accepted being alone in the dark, I wasn't alone any more. In front of me stood a middle-aged man in old ripped up clothes and a middle-long scruffy beard. Erebus, god of darkness and shadows had come to greet me.

"Hello son." He said awkwardly. I wondered if he even saw me as his son. Given how distant and awkward he was, I didn't think so.

"What is it Erebus?" I asked normally. I hoped it wasn't another one of his tests. I really didn't want one of those when I tried to get ready for a man to man talk with the lord of the dead.

"I can't stop you from doing this can I?" Normally that would have been a sign of caring, not with Erebus though. His voice was cold and uncaring. I shook my head. He couldn't stop me. I had to do this. "So loyal to a goddess who's shown no signs of helping you."

"I'm not doing this for Athena. I'm doing this for my friends at camp. I won't let Phthonos hurt them.

"Fighting to protect will cost you much Michael, know that." I wondered what Erebus meant, but at the same time I didn't want to do. It didn't sound very good. "I have to show you some thing." That's when he walked off, I followed. It wasn't long before we were out of the darkness and into a giant field. It was sort of like a wheat field, a giant wheat field that went on as far as the eye could see. There were a few tree's here and there, but what really filled the fields were people. Thousands...no millions of people, everywhere. Just standing there staring out in front of them. Kids, adults, men, women all kinds of people. "The fields of Asphodel." Erebus said. "This is where the dead go that have done nothing in the world. No good or bad. These are the people that went to school, got a job, had a family and died without a trace in the world. Those that died of age have usually done nothing wrong nor any good. These are the people that made no difference at all." So many people...so many people that had done nothing with their lives. I wasn't looking forward to the time of my dying. I knew I'd end up being punished for my deeds, but at least I wouldn't end up here. Erebus and I walked through the people standing there. To me it seemed like we were moving to get lost but Erebus seemed to know where he was going, and I wanted to know.

"Where are we going?" I wanted to know where Erebus was leading me. I wasn't going anywhere I didn't know not now. What I was about to do was too vital, I couldn't be kept by Erebus.

"There's someone you need to see, it's of utmost importance." Erebus said. I had to talk Hades into helping us defeat Phthonos, that was of utmost importance too! Of course I didn't say that. Erebus would crush me for being ungrateful. Better to just go along and decide for myself if this was important. That's when I saw her. The person Erebus was leading me to.

"Mum?" I couldn't believe it. In front of me stood my mother. The woman that had killed herself when I was just a little boy. She had set things in motion in my life that changed me completely. There were so many times that I wondered about my life if she had chosen to live, but there was no point in wondering. She was dead. But here she was standing in front of me. I could see her as clearly as I could see any of the living.

"Your mother was a very special woman." Erebus said. "You're my second son in the last thousand years Michael. Your mother...She was the greatest mortal I have ever encountered." For the first time I saw any kind of emotion in Erebus' eyes. He had never shown a single sign that he cared about me or anything else for that matter. But he cared a lot about my mom. At least that gave me a sense of belonging. I really was his son. He loved my mother, albeit in his way, I was not just a random hook up. I wondered about the other son in the last thousand years. When was he born? Maybe I did have a brother around or maybe my sibling had been born hundreds of years ago. Erebus touched my mothers face, her vacant stare turned a live. He had given her a moment of motion with her son and the only man (well...god) she ever loved. "I brought you our son my love."

"Michael?" She recognized me. Or I think she did. It had been ten years since her suicide, she hadn't aged a bit (the dead don't age I suppose) but I had grown a lot older. I was much taller than her now and my face and body were a man's more than a boy's. "I can't believe it's you Michael. You've grown so much."

"Why did you leave me mom? Was life really so bad with me?" I always blamed my mother's suicide on myself. She always told me I was all she had and all she needed, and yet she killed herself.

"I'm so sorry Michael." Tears started rolling over her cheeks, and over mine. "I wish I had been stronger, I wish I could have seen you grow into who you are." She sounded so proud of me. She had no idea what I had done in my life, what kind of a monster I was. She probably still thought I was that happy go lucky boy she used to know.

"I've done bad things Ma, horrible things. I'm trying to fix it but..." I wasn't doing a very good job fixing anything. I was good at the destroying, fixing was a lot harder. The right path was a lot harder. It's easy to be bad, keep to no rules and do whatever you want but being a good person. That road was filled with pain and loss. There were many days that I wondered if I should stop trying to be the good guy.

"I know Michael, I know. But that doesn't mean I don't love you. You're my son and even though I never saw you grow up you're always in my heart." She said. She didn't even seem to care that I was a murderer. I doubt that she knew that that's what I meant but still, she seemed so kind about it. Seeing my mom was...so painful. I had come to a point where I barely remembered her face and her voice. I was so young when she died. I barely even understood what she had done to herself. It would be weeks before I actually realized that she died and that she had died by her own choice. "And even though it probably won't change anything. Whether for good or bad, you have my blessing for what ever you do. I'm right there with you. Goodbye Michael." Her tears dried, her expression faded she turned back into that lifeless being just standing there. I tried not to cry or scream. This would have been the last time I got to talk to her. I had gotten more than most. If someone died how many got the chance to talk to them one more time? I guess I was one of the lucky few.

"Now, we must go." Erebus said. Again he turned into the cold being he had always been. We continued walking through the millions of dead. I wondered if there was some one else he needed me to see. I hoped not. If I was going to see more people like my mom I would break. Although seeing my mom, talking to her and knowing that she was proud of me and even gave me her blessing. I felt better, it was a weight of my back. Maybe that's what Erebus was trying to do. "There's someone else you must see, a few actually." Erebus didn't seem to understand how much it hurt to see these people. Maybe he simply didn't care, maybe this really was another test.

"Why are you taking me to people from my past? What could possibly be the point!" I was getting angry. I knew I shouldn't have been disrespectful to the god of darkness but why did he torture me like this?

"You have too much guilt Michael. You need to get rid of that before facing the lord of the dead or he will use these people against you." Erebus was right. But that didn't mean I wanted to face more people from my past. Of course Erebus didn't really care about what I wanted. So we pressed on. We pressed on until we stopped at two familiar faces. Peter and Joey. My brothers, or at least I always saw them as brothers. We were family. Just like Erebus had done with with my mom, he touched my old friends and gave them a moment of life.

"Hey bro." Pete said. He had always been taller than me and a hell of a lot more muscular. He died at age fifteen only a year younger than I was now. He was slightly shorter only an inch or two. But I was more muscular now, guess my training with Jake and at camp paid off.

"Sup big man. You've grown dude, I was small before but look at this six foot giant." Joey as hyper as always. I don't know what it was, in many ways he was like Alex and Hectar only he never annoyed me. Maybe now I just wasn't that kind of guy any more. Joey was eleven when he died but he was a small guy. I seriously had to look down to look him in the eye.

"Hey guys." I said. I didn't really know what to say. I had always blamed myself for their deaths but they talked to me as if we were in the old days.

"What's up with big guy Pete? Sounds like a sad fag on a rainy day. Come on man cheer the fuck up." Joey wasn't careful with swearing. Peter and I weren't either but Joey was definitely the worst. Of course he was the loudest of us so I guess the swearing came with that automatically.

"I think Mikey is beating himself up about us kicking the bucket." Pete said it as it was a joke. I just stood there, I didn't know what to say to these guys. The Michael they knew was long gone.

"It's my fault you guys died. I should have protected you." They didn't really like that answer.

"What a downer." Joey said.

"We get ten minutes," He looked at Erebus and he shook his head. "Less than ten minutes with our boy and what do we get?" Pete was still the same, Joey was the same. I was the only one that changed. If they hadn't died, would I be the same? "Look man, Joey and I fought the law and the law won. You couldn't have stopped us dying. Hell we're happy enough that you made and might actually be making something out of yourself. Remember that one time I burned the windowsill? I told you that all I really wanted was to be somebody other than some random orphanage kid with a shit job and a violent past. You can be just that man, go for it."

"Yeah big guy get some fucking degrees man." Joey said. I didn't know why but talking to them, it brought something out in my, something I thought was gone.

"Shut up little fairy or I'll kick your ass." I said to Joey. The old me had come back. The loud mouth kid with all the arrogance in the world but a kind heart.

"Bring it big guy! I'll fuck you up!" Just like the old days.

"Later Mikey." It was already time for them to go. After all Erebus had what he wanted. I had forgiven myself. I knew these things that they told me but until I saw them like this, I couldn't forgive myself.

"Wait till your dead big guy you're gonna get your ass kicked!" Then they returned to stone. Well to the empty shell of vague stares to be more specific. It wasn't long before started moving again. I didn't want to see another one but Erebus' mind was set.

"So who's next? Jake?" I asked. I doubted he would be on the fields but it seemed likely. I hoped he wasn't going to show me Eve, I saw her in DOA recording studios...that was bad enough.

"You never blamed yourself for Jake's death. You're taking revenge for it, maybe then you'll blame yourself." Erebus said. He didn't sound very nice, he never did. When I saw the person's face I was wrecked. It was Evie, the girl Colt killed brutally in the woods. She wasn't wounded any more like she was when she died. Her soul wasn't damaged like her body. She was motionless now but that would soon change. Erebus would touch her and then she would move and talk. I wondered if she could forgive me. Of all of them her case was by far the worst. After all Colt had killed her and doubted that she would have realized it wasn't actually me that hurt her.

"Angel." She said. Her voice was filled with rage. "You...YOU KILLED ME! How could you do that? I didn't deserve that! I never did anything to you!" I understood Erebus' point, I hated him for it. He didn't just show me forgiveness. There were things that I did that couldn't be forgiven.

"I'm sorry Evie...I wish I could change that day." That wasn't a lie. I really did wish I could change what happened but I couldn't. Like Jake had said, you can change the future but not the past.

"Fuck you! FUCK YOU! You're a fucking ass hole. I hope you burn!" She sounded so angry, she hated me. I had seen a lot of rage and hatred in my life...but Evie's hate was ultimate. Here she stood in a field staring ahead for the rest of eternity, and it was my fault.

"Please...no more." I asked my father. I doubted he would listen, he had a thing for torturing me. But I was wrong, Evie became as motionless as she had been before. "Just another test?" At first I actually thought Erebus was being nice...I was wrong. Seemed to happen a lot lately. I hoped I wasn't wrong about this plan.

"Yes." At least he wasn't a liar. "Now do you still want to meet Hades?"

"Nothing has changed, I have to face the lord of the dead." A lot had changed, but I had to get Hades' help or it was all over. I couldn't give up under any circumstances.

"Alright then."

And from that moment to the next I was out of the fields of Asphodel and in front of Hades' palace. It was a dark building which screamed evil. It was Greek architecture and was all bronze and black. If it was a bit more cheery it would have been a lovely place. The gate was probably worst. The top of the black metal gate showed horrible images of death. Very painful ways of death if I might add. Some of these horror's were indescribable. The gate showed ways of death even Colt wouldn't think of using. Had these things happened I wondered? If so I did not envy the victim. That's when the gate opened. There stood two US marines, only they were skeletons in US marine suits rather than actual marines. Soon I had two military standard M16's pointed at me, and these guys were going for the head shot.

"Marines oorah?" They took me inside the palace with a bag over my head, I had no idea where I was going but I guessed I was going to Hades or to my death. I was hoping for the first option. When the bag got pulled off my head I was in what I guessed was the throne room. It was a fancy room with bronze and gold decorations. The shine was off them though, they were very old and no one really cleaned this place obviously. I wondered if it was clean in the winter when Persephone was here. The throne of flowers was empty now. The flowers were nearly dead, I figured that when Persephone sat in her throne they would blossom. The throne ahead of me was used however, there sat Hades. I had been working towards this moment for a long time, and here I was. Hades stood in front of me wearing a black robe. His skin was albino white, pale doesn't even compare. His hair was long and grey and he had a long beard. His face was old looking but with an intensity you saw in no person of that age. I could see his breathe as if it was freezing, the room had a nice temperature though. If anything made it possible to see his breathe it was the coldness of his heart. I think I should have scared. Hades could destroy me without raising a hand. But I wasn't scared, I couldn't afford to be. And even if I could I simply wasn't. I had faced the dead and death itself. I had felt enough pain for lifetime and more loss than any mortal life had known. There was little Hades could do to hurt me more than the fates had. Hades could kill me, but death hardly scared me any more. I was ready to die.

"Well well, Michael Angelus Colt." His voice was cold and sinister. But I didn't get the same sense of evil from him like I did from Phthonos. What I did feel was his incredible power. It radiated through the room and probably beyond that. I knew Hades was powerful but in his presence I could feel it. The power radiating from the god choked me, it was so much. I couldn't believe what power he had. Was he doing this on purpose?

"I've come to make a deal." I had speeches in my head, millions of things I wanted to say but now that I was here it didn't matter. Hades had already made his choice, he just hadn't told me yet.

"A deal? A measly son of Erebus comes here for a deal. Charon said you weren't very impressive, I knew you'd find a way in here eventually though. Erebus' kids were always so bold. Of course the last one was a long time ago and he wasn't as bothersome as you. You've made my life a living hell...no pun intended." Hades had a sense of humour? Who would have guessed that? "So many dead come here blaming you. Do you know of your enemies Michael Angelus Colt?" I wondered what Hades had decided, right now he was just messing with me. Were there any gods that didn't try to mess with me? If there were any I hadn't found them yet.

"I know I'm not very liked, that's not why I'm here." I didn't really understand why I ticket off Hades, I didn't do it purpose actually but he didn't like my answer at all.

"I know why you're here Michael son of Erebus! But I'm not interested in why you're here! Because of you my daughter died by the hand of Phthonos! You shouldn't have even been born! But you will pay very soon. You will get a slow death Angelus." Hades' fury made the building shake. Then a burning circle appeared on the ground. Something was being summoned by Hades, and given the size of the circle, it was big. "You've fought this manticore before Angelus but I doubt you can beat it alone." The same manticore, the same scar, and very pissed off. The last time I fought this thing was with Luke. He had been a great help, so were the tree's. Now I was fighting this thing alone, could I do that? I didn't really have a choice. One thing I was sure of, Hades was not going to help me. The manticore started shooting thorns at me like it did in the woods. I rolled to the side in order to dodge, I had to think of something. Dodging the monsters attacks wouldn't save me for long. After I had rolled into the Manticore's dead corner I pulled out the black Zippo lighter from my pocket and turned the flint. The lighter changed into a 4 foot long sword, Shadow-edge. The manticore had turned it's body around and started shooting thorns at me again. It would be harder to roll with a sword in my head. Instead I went for last minute sidestepping. I continued sidestepping until the manticore shot three thorns in rapid succession. The first two I dodge, the third was coming towards my chest. I cut down with Shadow-edge hoping to save my skin. I don't know if it was good timing or pure luck, but I succeeded. The thorn bounced over the floor and the manticore seemed incapable of shooting any more thorns, for now anyway. Hades was sitting in his throne with a smile on his face, he was obviously enjoying this. To him this was gladiator like entertainment and he was rooting for the manticore. I had to focus on my enemy, not on Hades. Without it's thorns I could come close or at least I hoped so. I charged towards it when Hades spoke: "You should let Colt handle this." I was close to the manticore and ready to stick the thing in it's human head, it wouldn't let me so easily. It's scorpion tail came down on my, I blocked it's attack with Shadow-edge but now I had no other weapon to finish of the manticore and it could still harm me with it's teeth. "Even if the Fortis boy agrees to help you, you won't be able to defeat Colt. He's stronger than you Angelus, bring him out!" Hades was getting to me now. Colt was not stronger, I would defeat him, and I would defeat the manticore. All I needed was a dagger. That's when a miracle happened. Out of the hilt of Shadow-edge came a dagger. My sword didn't change and it seemed as if the dagger had come out of no where.

"Colt isn't stronger than me Hades. He's nothing like me!" That's when I stuck the dagger into the monsters neck. It's eyes grew wide before it disintegrated. I had killed it for the second time now. There I stood with Shadow-edge in one hand and the dagger in the other. There was something I wondered about. I brought the dagger near Shadow-edge and it got sucked in. It was as if the dagger had never been there.

"So you have Shadow-edge. An impressive weapon. Of course it's current wielder not so much." Hades said. He seemed bored now. His pet had failed to kill me and his entertainment had ended. I hoped he wasn't going to send another monster my way. I got lucky now but luck wouldn't always be on my side.

"So will you do it? If I bring Phthonos here will you provide a cage?" I asked him. I hadn't asked about the cage before, but Hades knew that that's what I wanted. He had probably been following me since my travel begun.

"I shall." Hades nodded. I didn't believe him. I needed an oath, one he wouldn't even break.

"I want you to swear it on the Styx Hades. Even you won't break that oath." Hades grinned evilly. I knew then that he wouldn't have kept his promise if I hadn't made him swear it.

"I swear on the Styx that if you are able to bring the god of malice, jealousy and ill will into my throne room I will throw him into the deepest and darkest pit of Tartarus." That was a lot better. I didn't need anything else from Hades. I turned around towards the nearest shadow in the corner of the room. I was only getting out of here with shadow travel. So might as well take the nearest exit. "You're not strong enough to defeat him Angelus. I will provide the cage, but I will never see you in this throne room again. But trust me, I will enjoy seeing your soul tortured in the fields of punishment." I knew that Hades had a point. There was a chance that Phthonos would crush me. But I was going to try. I turned to Hades just before entering the shadows for the third time.

"I'll see you in three days Hades, And you'll have your revenge on the one who killed your daughter." And like that I left into the shadows. Leaving the underworld behind me. I wished I would never have to go there again. But I would be bring Phthonos there when the time came. Either that or I'd die trying.


	28. State of Mind

Chapter 28: State of mind

I appeared in my old room in the orphanage. Since I was getting better at shadow travel I had decided to stay there for two more days, rest up and then go to Tulsa to meet Luke, Alex, Hectar and hopefully Lucio. I fed myself with stolen from for nearby grocery stores. It's how I came by when I roamed the streets and it was how I came by now. I could have shadow travelled into a store at night and got whatever I needed for the next two days but I didn't want to use shadow travelling in those two days. It was better to use as little energy as I could. I slept a lot and spend a little time outside in the courtyard. It was weird staying here again especially given how much I had changed. I was feeling good those two days I suppose. I had gotten Hades on our side, that was quite a feat in my opinion. But I still had my worries. If Lucio was willing to help...was I able to defeat Colt? I couldn't let him get to me in any way. People who saw Colt also made the mistake to assume that he hated everything. But the truth was he didn't hate, he didn't love, he just didn't care. Killing was just his sick entertainment. There were very he actually hated. And even against those he always kept a clear head. If Colt was able to anger me I would lose control and lose the fight. And even if I was able to keep my cool his fighting abilities were greater than mine. The chance of me beating him was extremely slim. And if by some stroke of luck I was able to fight him...then there were Samael and Max as the next challenges. Samael would probably still have the boost of power from Messor and Max was a formidable fighter. I doubted I could beat them even with Luke, Hectar and Alex at my side. They completely blew me away in the courtyard of the orphanage, they would probably do that again with ease. And even if I defeated them...then there was Phthonos. How was I supposed to get him into the underworld. I figured I could take him shadow travelling, that was my plan anyway. But I doubted he would be shadow travelled when he was at full strength. I would have to weaken him in some way but if I attacked him he could unleash his full power on me. It was a difficult situation. But even though the odds were against me I couldn't give up. I would never give up!

I sat on my bed wondering how to defeat my enemies. It was going to be a long shot but if I succeeded it would have all been worth it. All the pain and challenges would have meant something. For a second I wondered if anyone would ever tell my tale. If three hundred years from now I would be some tale for the young demigods. I never cared about fame but I wondered about it for just a second. The other thing I wondered about were the final two lines of the prophecy: The candidate chosen, the cage closed. By his finest soldier in the end opposed. I had no idea what the first of those lines meant. The final line I figured was something about one of Phthonos' chosen opposing him but who was his finest soldier? Samael? The way I knew him it seemed unlikely that he would consider opposing his father. Maximus? To Phthonos he never seemed very important but he was a fine soldier for his cause. So I wasn't exactly sure what this part of the prophecy meant, it didn't really matter as it wouldn't change my course of action. At first I thought it sucked that the prophecy didn't tell me whether the quest was a success or a failure but now I was happy about it. I wouldn't want to go into this fight knowing I would fail. At least know I had a little bit of hope. I spend a lot of time mentally preparing for what I was about to do. I knew I would have people by my side but I had to get Phthonos into the underworld. This was my fight more than anyone's. The more I could keep my friends away from fighting the better. Of course I was going to need their help after I defeated Colt. If I was alone it would be very hard to bring a good ending to this story. Now I needed them more than ever. It had been two days, I had some provisions for the road. I'd get as far as I could on foot and shadow travel at night fall. Walking by the road again felt pretty good. Even though I was alone and there was a slight chance that I would be attacked on the road ahead it was a good way to clear my mind. My thoughts raged on trying to erase any doubt and fear. The night came falling shortly after I had cleared my mind. I used the shadows to transport me as I had done three times now. I was getting better at it and it didn't tire me as much as it did before. This time, it didn't tire me at all.

We had the exact same room we had before. Only now we were two beds short. Lucio was there beyond all my expectations. I had hoped Luke would find Lucio but it had been a far stretch. Finding him must have been a stroke of luck. Luke and the others were happy to see me I guess. Lucio just sat there in the corner of the room. It looked like he hadn't been sleeping for a long time. He had only one thing on his mind, revenge. Again he reminded me of myself. That was the worst of all. If he was capable of the things I had done...things would get a lot worse for him. At first I doubted he could hurt anyone in that way, but seeing him like that. The determination in his eyes, he was ready to kill. I wondered why he was here. Had he agreed to help? Or was he here for revenge? The latter seemed more likely to me.

"So what did you get out of Hades?" Luke asked me. We hadn't really talked about any of that. Alex and Hectar were pretty much setting up a parade when I came walking in so I hadn't really been able to discuss what happened yet.

"He's providing a cage for Phthonos if we can get him into the underworld." I didn't know what Luke had expected from Hades, but this wasn't it.

"A cage? That's it? We've been travelling cross country for a fucking cage!"

"What did you expect? An army? Hades himself coming to help us out?" I think Luke realized now how out of line he was. I knew that more would have been helpful but this is what we got.

"I'm sorry. I know you did the best you could." After that it was quiet for a while. It wouldn't have been if Alex and Hectar were still in the room, we had send them on a food run. Lucio was still sitting in the corner of the room. "So are you ready Angel?" Luke asked me. "I got straps and all. I have faith in you mate but if it's not you waking up we need to be prepared." Luke said. I didn't understand why he was trying to get ready for this. Had Lucio told him he was willing to help? If so he had been lying.

"I'm not helping you out Luke." Lucio said honestly. Luke seemed shocked at first, but then his face changed. I wasn't sure if he was angry or sad, maybe he was just disappointed. "I'm here to kill him."

"You still haven't got that out of your head?" Luke said, he sounded angry. I had made up my mind about how Luke was feeling. "Do you have any idea what's at stake here? Phthonos is going to end life as we know it unless we stop him. And even if that wasn't happening then you're still wrong to want revenge. I've been through hell with this guy and trust me, he did not kill your sister. But in his head is the monster who has and here you have a chance to stop him once and for all. Instead you're going to try and fight him even though he have no chance of winning? I always thought you were such a smart guy Lucio. Evie was always so proud of her little half brother but look at you now!" I rarely saw this kind of intensity from Luke. Whenever he lost his cool like this it was about something he cared about. His friends or his girlfriend and maybe a few things here and there. He didn't really have any real family. His mother abandoned him when he was young and he was taken in by his supposed father. His sister was dead and his nan had passed a few months before I came to camp. I didn't know these things at the time, but Luke had no family, just like me. So automatically, friends became the most important thing there were. I knew what that was like. Lucio seemed effected by Luke's harsh words. He tried to seem all bad but it was just his anger showing, he wasn't a bad kid.

"Okay, I'll help." Then he looked at me with a destructive look. "Don't fail. Destroy Colt once and for all. And just so you know...I'm doing this for Evie not for you." I decided right there that I wouldn't tell Lucio what Evie told me in the fields of Asphodel. If he knew that his sister could never forgive me he would never forgive me. And if he kept all that anger cropped up inside he would start doing stupid things somewhere along the line. But for now I couldn't worry about that. I had to worry about Colt, nothing else could be on my mind.

I was strapped to a bed by my legs and arms. I tried to get out for about ten minutes, I found no possible way. If I didn't, there was chance Colt still could but I didn't want to worry about that. I thought it was going to be tough to make them believe it was me once I came out of my dream. I would know when it was me but if it wasn't there was no way I could warn them. I knew what I would tell Luke, the only memory I had kept a complete secret from Colt. I always figured that if he could hide memories from me I could hide things from him. This was the only thing I had successfully hidden from my alter ego. The memory was quite simple, it was Luke and me in Pittsburgh just before Erebus showed up. Luke told me that he was going to ask Maria to marry him. That's what I had hidden. At the time I hadn't really figured out my plan to destroy Colt yet so I was worried about that piece of information. If Colt got to speak to Maria before Luke got to pop the question he would twist it and ruin it for Luke. I didn't want that happening, so I hid it deep inside hoping Colt wouldn't find it. As far as I knew he never did. As I lay there I was wondering what it would be like to see Colt face to face again. Lucio was mumbling some kind of mumbo jumbo just like Evie had when she gave me my memories back, she was a lot better at this. Eventually I started feeling my eye lids get heavy. I felt extremely tired and closed my eyes. Even being strapped up the bed was quite comfy, either that or I was too tired not to be comfy.

"Good luck Angel." I heard Luke's voice just before I dozed off.

At first it was just me and him. Nothing else but pure black. It reminded me of the darkness but it felt different. That was darkness, this was nothing. There was a different I can't explain. Colt stood in front of me about 10 feet away from me. He looked exactly the same as me, only he wore a sadistic smile and had blood-lust in his eyes. There were differences of course Colt was quite good at hiding those. Now there was no need for that though. It was just me and him, one last time.

"So this is it huh?" I said. I knew Colt would say some thing before the fight would actually kick off. I was ready to take whatever he had. Colt was good at angering someone and he knew me better than anyone.

"Not yet Angel, don't get so impatient." Colt said. We had the same voice...but he sounded different, he always had. "You and I can only square off in the deepest sleep. First we'll have to dream." Was Colt stalling so he could piss me off before the fight began? Maybe, or maybe he wasn't lying. Either way the scene shifted, I wondered what dream I would be having. Lately most of my dreams involved this quest but I used to have different dreams. Happy dreams, nightmares. I hadn't had dreams that weren't real in so long. It didn't matter what kind of dream it would be, either way Colt had already ruined it simply because he was there.

The dark shaped into a apartment I inhabited so many years ago. This was where I lived with my mom. I wondered if Colt had anything to do with the choice of the dream or if this was simply my mind getting through the meeting with my dead mother in the fields of Asphodel. Both were possible. This was an easy way for Colt to torture me but my mind also had things to get through. The room looked exactly like it always had. My mom had always tried to make it as homey as possible. A lot of happy colours and things for my enjoyment. We had a poster of the ninja turtles in the living room. How many kids had that? It was funny how colourful my mom was and thinking that my dad was the god of darkness. So many things about them being together didn't seem right to me but I had seen my father in the presence of my mom. I had seen how much he loved her, maybe opposites really did attract.

Outside a storm was raging, the rain pouring down relentlessly. Thunder and lightning following each other in rapid succession. I sat in the windowsill looking up into the sky. The moon was full and there were many stars but that wasn't what attracted my attention. It was the storm. The lightning attracted me, how could anyone fear nature's own fireworks? I didn't understand things about people. I guess they really did fear everything they didn't understand.

"Interested by the storm again?" My mom said. She was sitting in the living room on the couch. She would have to go work soon. She always went to work at night. It scared her that I was alone all night long but no nanny would understand why I was awake all night so she trusted me. I never gave her a reason why she shouldn't. I used to be such a responsible kid.

"Where does it come from mummy?" My voice was high, childish and happy sounding. A year later I would sound completely different, not just my voice but ever more so my way of speech. At age seven there was no one telling me that swearing was a bad thing, I dropped F-bombs in ever sentence without thinking twice about it.

"There's many different views on that Michael. Some believe it has to do with the atmosphere pressure and humidity and things like that." I was six at the time...I didn't understand a word she said.

"Huh?" She laughed at my comment.

"I don't really understand it either. There's other beliefs as well though. Some believe it's God. In ancient Greece they believed Zeus controlled thunder and lightning." I never really noticed this when I was young but whenever I asked for an explanation on something she would always give the ancient Greek explanation to it. I bet if she had lived longer she would have taught me much about mythology. Even after I had seen her and had a sense of closure, I still wished she hadn't died. "You should respect all those beliefs Michael. Do you understand that?"

"Yeah, I think I do." Morals and values...I wished I had listened to them more. Of course if I had been as morally correct as my mother tried to teach me I wouldn't have survived the orphanage. I barely did now that I was one of the most popular (and hated at the same time) kids at the orphanage.

"Weren't we cute?" Colt said. He was ruining my memory, he was good at that. As I looked at him the apartment of my mother disappeared. The dream was over I suppose. The memory was. After that my mom grabbed her stuff and left for work. I ended up staring at the storm for hours until I finally fell asleep in the windowsill. "I wonder if you were dreaming about this because we just saw mummy dearest. That was fun, sadly we couldn't stick a sword through her gut for leaving us behind like trash. That would have been more fun." I had to ignore whatever he said. I couldn't believe he spoke so easily of killing her, he really didn't care about anything.

"Ahh did poor Colt feel abandoned? Is that why you want to kill her so bad?" Colt laughed. I was simply bluffing. I knew he wanted to kill her because he found it fun. He needed no other reason. But hell I needed to defend myself from his words in some way.

"Have you started growing a back bone Angel? I expected you to fall apart and cry your eyes out. It's what you usually do." Colt obviously didn't understand what it was like being human. He didn't understand regret or grief. All he understand was causing pain in any way.

"I can't wait to kill you." I was still calm, but I was speaking the truth. Him, Samael and Phthonos were the only three I would intentionally want to hurt. If I could I'd send them all to Hades. Of course Phthonos was a god so I couldn't actually kill him, I was going to bring him to Hades though. Colt couldn't really be killed as he didn't really exist. He was in my head, all I had to do was get him out. Colt was like a tumour in my brain, a disease that had to be taken out. And soon he would be...if I could defeat him. Again something was being shaped, another dream? If it was time Colt would have tried to kill me already.

I was in a park in Los Angeles now. It was a very small park not far from the orphanage, I was eleven years old and all my friends were still alive. We were sitting on a small wall, in front of it stood a bench but instead of sitting on it we rested our feet (well all of us except Joey.) Peter and I were smoking cigarettes, I started way too young. I couldn't even remember how we got them. Probably older kids at the orphanage. I was sitting on the far right, Eve sat next to me and after that came Peter and Joey. It was in the afternoon, it was sunny as happened a lot in Los Angeles. I remembered this afternoon, the sun wouldn't be out for long. The four of us were just chatting away cracking jokes and having fun. Colt stood beside me with a sickened look on his face.

"Look at us. We were so weak. Those supposed friends were things that held us back. We could have ruled that orphanage but instead we just banded with these losers." Colt was always so arrogant. He was right though, even at that age there were very few kids at the orphanage that could have beaten me in a fair fight.

"Even you can't deny that you care about them. Even Michael's darkest side only existed when they got hurt." I said. Colt laughed that off too.

"You of all people should know that there isn't a life that a value but my own." Colt said. "Which is the only reason I've been keeping you alive."

"That's a lie, every challenge that came my way I beat on my own strength." I doubted that myself. If Colt could take over while I was driving towards the orphanage without me knowing it he could have taken over in every single fight I had been in. It wasn't unthinkable, after all what he said was true. He only cared about his own survival but he couldn't survive if I didn't. He had to protect me if he wanted himself to live. Of course if he defeated me now he wouldn't have to. Around me the sky was growing dark, I could hear the thunder in the distance and the rain started pouring down. I saw a younger version of me ran towards cover with his friends. That's when I felt it...it was time. I didn't know why it was time now. Maybe I was in deep enough sleep now, but now I was ready to fight, and so was Colt.

"It's time..." I went into my pocket and got out the black Zippo lighter which was my sword. Colt did the same thing, apparently we would carry the exact same weapon.

"I guess it is." Both of us turned the flint making our Zippo lighter deadly swords. "I really wish it could have gone differently. If you had given me control from the start you would still be alive." Colt said.

"Bullshit. You love this. And even if you win and I die here. I wouldn't have wished for that life. I wouldn't have lived as the voice inside your head. I would have just existed."

"Now you know how I feel." Colt sprinted towards me and attacked. I was just fast enough too block his attack. Seeing an exact copy of Shadow-edge was extremely weird. Of course I was also fighting an exact copy of myself only this version was a homicidal maniac. I had gotten used to an evil version of me though, but I had never imagined him with my sword in his hand. He attacked relentlessly. He was so fast that by the second attack it was all instinct. I couldn't get any attacks of my own in. Eventually he tried to cut my left leg. I caught his blade with mine and pushed his weapon away. It should have left him wide open for an attack. Most fighters would have been screwed, it had never failed. But when I tried to attack him he blocked as if it was nothing. He looked me right in the eyes and smiled. He was winning this. I tried to attack again but he blocked without breaking a sweat. I tried every kind of attack Jake had ever taught me but the problem was that Colt knew them as well as I did. When he tried to stab me in the chest I sidestepped and tried to decapitate him. He ducked right under my blade and tried to cut my leg but I was just quick enough to block. I got lucky each time. I started to feel tired while Colt seemed absolutely fine. Neither of us tried anything advanced yet. Colt was tiring me out and I needed to keep my best for last. Eventually our blades connecting, I didn't think a stand-off like Colt and I had ever happened outside the movies, but it did. With our blades still connecting we looked each other right in the eyes.

"I can't let you continue Colt. You're a monster!"

"You can't let me continue? You can't do anything without me. You didn't get us here, I did!"

That's when I pulled away and tried to sweep his legs. He simply jumped over my sword and pushed me away from him with a shoulder push. I stayed on my feet but I backed away a little. We weren't in reach of each other any more. I wondered if Colt needed a breather as much as I did. He probably didn't. I didn't really realize this at the time but we weren't really fighting it was just the way we both imagined it. It was just a battle of minds and his mental focus was a lot stronger than mine. That was the reason why he seemed completely focused and didn't show any sign of depleting stamina. My mental strength was much less impressive. I had a lot to deal with and a lot of things that were on my mind constantly. Colt was only winning because I was distracted. We were completely equal, only he was more focused.

"You're not giving this your all Angel. Either that or I overestimated you."

"If I'm so disappointing why haven't you defeated me yet?"

"No point in doing this quick and easy, I want to cherish this moment till the end of my life."

"You won't have long to cherish it. I won't lose to you."

"Oh really?"

He charged again. He was always the attacker. I desperately tried to keep up with his attacks. Sometimes it seemed as if he nearly had me and others I blocked with ease. I tried to turn his attacks around on him many times but it was nearly impossible. The sound of our blades colliding rang every second. No blow came through my defence. I knew though that I needed some kind of plan. I couldn't stay defensive all this time. I tried to look around as much as possible. I was still in the park but there wasn't much there. A few tree's but there was nothing I could do with them. Their trunks were way too thick to cut down. Other than that there wasn't much there. It was a perfect battlefield, nothing would interfere with our fight. The only thing I saw that could help me out, it was dark. Because of the storm the clouds had blocked out any sunlight. Which meant I could shadow travel. I pushed Colt away from me and disappeared into the darkness. In a split second I appeared behind him and attacked. He was just quick enough to block, so I tried again. I disappeared as our swords connected, disappeared and attacked him from another angle. Again he blocked, so I kept trying. Each time I appeared somewhere else and each time he was quick enough to block. The thing I noticed was that shadow travel didn't tire me out at all. I was in a dream, the limitations I had in the real world didn't count here. I could shadow travel all I wanted. So why wasn't Colt? Couldn't he or did he believe he didn't need it. Again I shadow travelled this time trying to cut his legs off. He blocked once again and smiled.

"My turn." He said.

He shadow travelled away and attacked me from behind. I turned around as fast as I could and my blade caught his just in time. The thought 'that was close' popped into my head. Did Colt have that every time he blocked my attack? Did he have it once, or not even that? He didn't seem like the type of guy to worry about winning as he was too arrogant to admit that there was a chance he could lose. He shadow travelled again and wanted to attack me from another side as I had done to Colt. I wasn't going to just stand here though. I shadow travelled right after him. That's how we went on. Both of us shadow travelled, our blades would connect, and we'd be gone. It was fight that would be impossible to follow for a mortal or most demigods. Of course it was a fight that was happening inside my head. The final time our blades clashed the power of our strikes disarmed the both of us. Of course we used to be fist fighters, the fight wasn't over yet. Colt attacked first. I knocked away his arm and punched him in the bridge of his nose. If I had punched him on a bit less straight angle I would have broken his nose for sure. Of course that wouldn't have ended the fight. Both of us could take a punch. Unless either of us got our hands on a weapon this would take a while. I tried to punch him again with a quick left but he knocked my arm away like I knocked his away earlier. We used the exact same movements each time. He didn't hit my nose though, I move my head sideways making his fist only scrape my cheek. This wasn't going anywhere. I dissolved into the shadows towards my Shadow-edge. I picked up my weapon and ran towards Colt. Only I wasn't just going to continue running. I disappeared into the shadows again and appeared above Colt. I cut downwards with Shadow-edge with incredible strength. Just before my blade connected he disappeared. He had his sword back and I had missed again. I landed on the ground when Colt came towards me. Our shadow travel clash continued as our attacks and blocks became faster and faster. We were completely equal. That's when everything changed. Our blades connected one more time before Colt drew a dagger. I didn't know where he got it but he had it in his hands. He cut me in my thigh while our swords were still clashing. I fell down to my knees. He had me now. He was just about to finish me off when I shadow travelled away. Not far, about 100 feet if not less. I sat there on my knees not knowing what to do. He had me, I couldn't keep up with the intensity of this fight with a wounded leg. I knew this fight would be over at first blood, Colt had won.

"So weak." Colt started to come closer. He had dropped the dagger, he was finishing me off with the sword we had both been using. My Shadow-edge was still at the place where Colt cut my leg. "You really thought you could beat me?" He was nearly where I was. I didn't want to give up. I had to keep on fighting till my last breathe. But I didn't even have a sword. If only I had a sword.

That's when a sword appeared in my hand. Again I was reminded that we weren't in the real world. That was how Colt got the dagger. He just thought about it and he had it in his hand. Wonder if that would work with an M16... I got back to my feet with the sword in hand. It was exactly the same as Shadow-edge, now there were three of them in one park. It used to be such a unique sword.

"I will beat you Colt. When I got my memories back...I couldn't take that. All that anger and rage from the past had to go somewhere. That's the only reason you exist. But I can handle it now. I don't need you any more!" Now I attacked.

"You need me more than you know. You need someone to blame for all the shit in your life, makes living a lot easier." Colt said just before blocking my attack. We fought again, even faster than before. We had a split second to react to what the other did. If we didn't know each others fighting as well as we did this wouldn't have been possible. Our swords clashed so fast that I heard the next clash before the last one had rung out. Metal colliding, what a magical sound. Our swords kept clashing with no sight towards an end. I had dodged his sweeps and stabs and he had blocked my slashes and cuts. This fight was going no where, so I had to take a leverage. I summoned another sword which completely overwhelmed Colt. He was good but he couldn't defeat me like this. If he blocked the first attacked the other caught him. Soon he was covered in wounds and scratches. He dropped his swords, in any fight I would have had mercy on my opponent, but this wasn't any other fight. I stabbed Colt with both swords in his shoulders and pushed forwards. I pushed him at least twenty feet (and pretty much the whole blade of the sword) until the tips connected with a tree. I twisted the swords opening the wounds even more. Colt was losing a lot of blood. He was barely alive any more.

"You were wrong Colt. I don't need to blame my mistakes on you. I am responsible enough to blame them on myself. I hate you more than anything Colt. Not because I blame you for everything that happened to me. But because of what you did to good people." I said. Colt unpinned himself from the tree but before he could set a foot towards me he collapsed to his knees.

"It's impossible. You couldn't have beaten me. It's not possible!"

"I will always beat you Colt. You want to know why." I crouched down beside him. He was dying, I could hear it. I had heard many people die, but I never enjoyed it as much as now. "Because I wanted it more. It's just a state of mind. Your entire existence is just causing pain and sorrow and death. But I have things to fight for. Things to die for. My friends are waiting for me to come back. I had no choice but to defeat you because it was either that or never return to the people I care about. I know you don't understand that. But you don't matter any more. You don't exist any more." I summoned another sword to my hand, and drove it through Colt's skull. I didn't get to watch him die, just as the sword sunk into his forehead I woke up.

"Angel!" Luke stood beside my bed. There were two questions in my head. One: how long had I been out? Two: how was I going to convince them it was me? The ring story might work on Luke but I wasn't going to tell it with anyone else there. I had to convince them all in some way. Alex and Hectar wouldn't be too tough as they had never met Colt (and now they never would) but Lucio was a different story. "Is it you?" I nodded. I didn't think it was enough. "I need you to look me in the eyes and tell me it's you." I turned my head towards him. I had a terrible headache. Apparently erasing a second identity from your mind hurts.

"Its me Luke. I swear it's me." Luke smiled. I didn't know how exactly, but he had seen it. He had met Colt more than anyone, even me and the bastard used to inhabit my head. Even though Colt was a good actor, Luke could tell if I was lying or not. And a second ago, he saw no sign of a lie. The straps got taken of my wrists and legs. He didn't even consult the others, he just knew. I guess Luke knew me better than I thought he did.

"I can't believe you did it man!" He said happily. We had heard very little good news lately. Colt being gone forever was very good news for Luke. They had squared off three times. The first time Luke got Colt into a cage, the second time Luke got his hand pierced and the third time Colt mocked everything Luke cared about. He must have been really happy to never see that monster again. And how happy he was, wasn't even close to how happy I was. Colt had bound me between monster and man. But with him gone I had broken my bonds. I was free.


	29. Choices

Chapter 29: Choices

Here we were, five teenagers ready to fight a god. Lucio, Alex, Hectar, Luke and myself. We didn't need much time to prepare, what we needed we could carry. I had my glove and Shadow-edge in my pocket. Luke carried an arsenal in his bronze hand. Lucio had knives everywhere and had a bow and a few arrows in a quiver flung around his shoulder. and Alex and Hectar both carried a sword. We were in front of the greatest bank of the region, fused by no one other than Phthonos. Our destination, floor 14. I had expected this place to be more important than we first thought and even though I wasn't sure of it I believed that we had to be here. The building looked empty even though it was in the middle of the afternoon. Phthonos probably knew we were coming, which meant getting to the fourteenth floor wasn't going to be easy. I wondered what Phthonos had planned for us. He wouldn't just let us get to where he was. He would try to kill us on the way up, although he probably expected me to make it. He obviously still had plans for me. He had so many chances to let Max and Samael kill me but he never let them. Why was I still so important? Wasn't it clear that I wasn't going to be his little slave boy? Maybe Phthonos still thought Colt was around. I didn't know for sure. I wasn't even sure if this would lead us to where we needed to be. Maybe I was wrong completely. But the others (even Lucio) seemed to trust my judgement. We had driven here in the same white van we had before. The trip had been quiet, no one knew what to say before the fight we were going into. I got out of the car trying to stay focused. I knew I was going to have to fight Samael and possibly Max at some point. If we would run into Samael I would fight him alone, that was certain. I couldn't let the others get involved, it was too dangerous. Samael was the best fighter I had ever seen. I pretty much knew already that my dream fight with Colt wouldn't even compare to this fight.

"So guys...before we enter. You all know what you're getting into right?"I asked. "There's a chance that none of us are going to come back from this. We're up against a god and two very powerful demigods. Maybe other things we don't know about." I said. They all stood there self assured and confident. None of them showed a sign of fear. I doubted that they weren't scared (well maybe Alex and Hectar weren't...and they had most reason to be in my opinion.) but they didn't show fear. They were all brave guys.

"Look Angel, let's just do this all right. Send Phthonos to hell and get back home." Lucio said, of course doing that was easier said then done.

"Let's kick Fiffy's ass." Alex said.

"The Fifster stands no chance." Everyone looked at Hectar with a weird face. Fifster? What the hell was that?

"Poor effort bro." Alex said. On that we walked in. The door was unlocked, Phthonos really was expecting us. I tried to stay as focused as possible. If anything was nearing us I wanted to know about it. Of course I had no clue when it happened. We were ten steps into the building when drones filled the room. They came from everywhere or so it seemed.

"Are these people?" Lucio asked.

"Not exactly. They have no thoughts of their own, they are Phthonos' puppets." Luke said. It was true. We had fought them before. They weren't good fighters but they outnumbered us. All we had to do was get upstairs, we didn't need to fight them all. And with an army like this they couldn't attack us all at once. The top we ten against the five of us and with their low level of skill we could handle that much.

"Get towards the stairs. If they come close don't hesitant about cutting them down but don't attack first." I said to the others. I didn't really have to say it to Luke. He knew my way of thinking by now. We sidestepped towards the staircase towards the right trying to get as close before the drones reached us. They moved slowly and they had the same vacant meaningless expression they had last time I met them. They're first row got to us just before we reached the stairs. One tried to cut me down with an oversized war hammer. The things was giant and probably very heavy while the guy carrying it was slim, short and looked more like a geek than an exceptional fighter. Big round glasses that didn't fit his small mouse like face, buck teeth and a very other signs. Of course all of that was gone, he wasn't that person any more. Just an empty shell. At least that's what I kept in my head as I cut him down. In the corner of my eye I saw Luke fighting one with a spear, he seemed to have no trouble at all with these things. To Luke they were as much of a challenge as a wooden dummy. The drone tried to stab him with the spear but before the spear was near Luke the drone hit the ground. I had to focus on another opponent. This one carried a sword, he didn't seem very skilled, none of the drones did. He tried to stab me in the chest. I leaned to the left in order to dodge the attack. From my dodging position I could see the other three fighting. Alex and Hectar were mostly just playing around with these enemies. The drones were weak but these guys were being complete idiots. I started to doubt my decision of taking them with me. Lucio was cutting down drones one by one. He was an excellent fighter. Of course these things weren't very challenging. I cut down the swordsman in front of me as we pushed towards the stairs. I got attacked by quite a few drones trying to get there. They were all easily taken care of. We climbed up the stairs facing backwards to fend of our attackers. Very few of the drones were smart enough to understand there were other stairs too which could make them surround us. Alex and Hectar made easy work of the few that did.

"Luke, have you got anything to keep this lot busy?" I asked. He was our gadget man. If he didn't have anything we'd have to get to the stairs like this which meant they would be right behind our asses until we reached Phthonos, maybe even once we did. If Luke had some kind of distraction it would be perfect.

"Sorry mate, got nothing." Luke said as he cut down another poorly skilled drone. We had to find some way to distract these things. Anything that would go boom would do.

"I've got something." Lucio said from behind me. He slashed a drone's throat with a knife before he sheathed it and got his bow. He got a special arrow out of his quiver. Most of it was normal except for the tip. It was made if glass and had some kind of liquid inside it. He aimed the arrow at the main group piling up just in front of the stairs. As the arrow his a drone in the head (this kid was a good shot) it exploded. I had no idea how Lucio got Greek fire arrows, but it worked.

"Get to the stairs." I said. I knew the elevator wouldn't work. Phthonos wouldn't allow it to. This wasn't the last obstacle Phthonos had for us. We ran towards the staircases, no drones followed us. Those that weren't trying to put out the flames that were dancing on top of them were running around in terror. The Greek fire had done exactly what it was supposed to. We ran up the stairs as fast as we could. With my long legs I could easily skip a step. Luke could if he wanted to but chose not to. We got the third floor before we were stopped by a metal gate. I tried pushing it or breaking it but it wouldn't budge. This was where Phthonos wanted us to be. Behind the door there was a maze of hallways. And as soon as we walked in, the others were gone. I stood there alone. "Guys?" I yelled. "Where are you?"

"ANGEL!" It was Alex. I knew it was him. I heard him scream. What was wrong? I walked straight on heading towards the sound. "Someone please!" Alex screamed again. What had he run into? Why was everyone gone so sudden. If I didn't remember shoving a sword through Colt's skull I would have thought he had taken over for a while. But that was impossible. I took a right, a left, another left but the screaming only seemed to be further away.

"Angel help!" Lucio screamed. His voice echoed through the hallways making it impossible to locate the sound. Where were they? I had to help them. I doubled back and made some random turns trying to find Lucio. I heard nothing but the screaming. I was afraid. My friends were being killed and I was here alone. What was I supposed to do? I couldn't find them! I was panting heavily while running through the hallways.

"Alex! No no no!" Hectar, had he found Alex? Was Alex dead? No that couldn't be. This couldn't be happening! "Please wake up Alex!" I heard Hectar scream again. What had happened to him? I had to find them. In the back of my head I knew Lucio was having trouble too but I worried about Alex too much. Mostly because I didn't hear Alex scream. I heard Lucio scream. But Alex was quiet. He was unconscious or...I didn't want to think about the alternative. It was never a secret that I didn't really like Alex or Hectar but either of them dying was never my wish. They had a lot of living to do.

"Angel, is that you?" I heard Luke. He seemed to be the only one out of trouble. I couldn't see him, just hear him. But he sounded just fine. I took a left. How many turns had I taken? How many lefts and rights? I didn't remember. The maze of identical hallways drove me mad. All the voices echoed through my head. What was going on?

"Luke. It's me, I'm all right where are the others?" I spoke hoping Luke would hear me. Maybe he had found one of the other two. Given by their continuing screams and cries for help I doubted it.

"I don't know. They're something wrong here Angel." That's when Lucio and Hectar stopped yelling and screaming. It was dead quiet. It seemed as if there was meant to be sound. Like watching a movie with the TV's sound muted. Why did they stop screaming? "I think we ought to...AAAAGHH"

"LUKE!" I started running through the hallways. Not Luke too, not all of them. Was this was Phthonos wanted? To drive me mad in these hallways and kill my friends one by one for me to hear. That raised another question. Was Samael or Max the one killing them. Were they torturing my friends to this point. No, that wasn't possible. Samael maybe but Max wasn't capable of doing this. I knew him too well for that. Or maybe I was wrong. Maybe the friendship we had was a lie. If that was true...my friends were really dead. I continued running and running until my lungs burned. "LUKE! Talk to me!" He just continued screaming, the TV had gone off mute. Luke's screaming echoed through the hallways. Hectar and Lucio were still quiet. As I ran I caught a glimpse of something. A cloven hoof. I after it, right left, right. It never allowed me more than a glimpse. I saw it's tail once. A long and slender tail, it's end was like a fox's tail only it split into three parts. I knew what monster I was chasing. It was the same monster I had fought in the subway. A Leukrokottas, a monster that could imitate voices. It had to be that thing. I wondered though. The monster I fought in the subway had claws, else it couldn't have cut up my face. This thing had hooves. I started to doubt if it was the same monster. But then what was this? I turned left one final time before finally seeing it. It was a true abomination. I didn't know what a Leukrokottas looked like but this couldn't be it. It had a skeleton like head, it had no nose and a sharp ridge of bone instead of teeth. It's head wasn't the weird thing though. It was the body. It kind of looked like that of a stag but it was monstrous. Pieces of it's spine were sticking out and from the side I could see the things ribs right underneath it's very thin skin. It's front legs were even weirder. They were thick and hairy and had claws at the end. The back legs were thin and had cloven hooves. The thing was scarred and seemed to have been put to pieces. It was the animal version of Frankenstein's monster. Most Greek monsters were but this thing was unheard of. It stared at me with hungry eyes. It growled like an animal now. It had been imitating the voices of my friends but now it was growling. I got Shadow-edge out of my pocket and as it lunged I cut it down. It evaporated into dust like any monster. This wasn't any monster though.

"So you killed both my creations." Phthonos said. He had appeared in front of me. "It was a beauty wasn't it?"

"It was an abomination." I said. I wanted to attack Phthonos but kept my anger under control. If I attacked him now all was lost.

"Exactly why it's so perfect. Just like you. I wanted a murderous maniac, and look what I got." Now I really wanted to attack him. He took their with an expression that spoke: Come on, attack. He probably wanted me to, or more likely expected me to. But I just stood there. I had to control myself. He just laughed. "See you on top."

As quickly as he came he was gone. So were the hallways. We stood on a completely empty floor. I could see my friends again. Luke, Alex, Hectar and Lucio were all fine. It had all been an illusion. In front of me lay a pile of dust, so that had been real. The truth was all of us had seen the hallways and heard each other screaming. All of us were faced with the same challenge. Although Lucio always claimed he never heard me scream.

"Everyone all right?" I asked. All of us were panting and were covered in sweat. All of us had been worn down by Phthonos illusion in combination with the abomination's use of each others voices.

"I presume we all heard the same things?" Lucio said. Everyone nodded. I started looking around. Taking the stairs wasn't an option. But there was an elevator here, would it work? I walked over it and pushed a button beside the doors. It started glowing bright red. The elevator was moving.

"Did the elevator work all this time!" Alex yelled. "We wouldn't have been here if we'd taken the elevator in the first place!" I ignored him, I was pretty sure he was wrong. If we had tried downstairs the elevator wouldn't have worked. Now that we survived this it did. I wouldn't be surprised if the elevator would stop at a certain point. Although now that Phthonos had shown himself maybe he would let us come to him from here on. The elevator doors opened. I didn't expect the inside to be so big. Usually elevator were tight fits for all the people that had to use them but this one was giant. From the roof a cord hang with a small bronze key at the end.

"Angel...what's that?" Lucio asked.

"It's the access key for the fifty-sixth floor." Maximus had told me about the access key when we were here last. And Phthonos just told me to meet him on top. I knew where to go. The thing was that Phthonos had told me where to go. It meant that we were nothing but puppets in his doll house. He knew where we were and where we would be going. No one questioned what I said. I knew what we were doing or at least that's what they thought. Without Colt, trusting me was a lot easier I suppose. I pushed the button for the fifty-sixth floor. The elevator starting moving upwards at incredible speed. We all just stood there trying to get ourselves back together.

"By the way Angel, I should tell you this before we go in there." Luke said. I wondered what Luke had to say. We were going into pretty much certain death, many things to say at this point.

"What?" I asked. I hoped a conversation about if I die wasn't required, I guessed this was it.

"I heard you scream down there...you sound like a bloody girl!" The others laughed, I couldn't help but do the same. Alex nearly collapsed from laughing. "Alex is worse though. If there is any masculinity in his voice, it's completely gone when he goes up two pitches." We all laughed but Alex stopped laughing.

"Hey!" He didn't really like it when the jokes were about him. That's when the elevator stopped. As the door started to open we had chosen to spend the seconds before out possible death laughing. We all left the elevator simultaneously (makes you understand how big this freaking elevator was.) In front of us stood at least fifty drones. They always looked the same. Different faces and name tags but the same work outfits and the same kinds of weaponry. I never looked at their name tags. If I knew their name cutting them down would be harder. They were all clustered up in front of us, a few of us could make it through without fighting but the others would be left behind. Lucio seemed to have noticed that two. With two daggers in hand he looked at me and nodded.

"Luke, see that gap in the right flank?" Luke nodded. "Let's go." I started sprinting with all every ounce of energy I had left in me. Luke was right behind me. Alex and Hectar were surprised about Luke and I running off but pretty soon they were too occupied by the drones. They were all pretty good fighters, they would make it. Luke and I had other problems. We got back into the staircases. We only needed to go one floor up, the top floor. Would Phthonos be there? Or was it just another challenge. Maybe it was a trap to finally kill us. It seemed like Phthonos to give us hope till the final moment before killing us. At the top of the stairs there were a locked door with '56' painted in black. I got the small bronze key out of my pocket. Before I stuck it in the lock, Luke stopped me.

"Angel..." His voice was much more sincere right now. More so than in the elevator. This was that talk. "If anything happens to me." He got a white envelop out of his pocket. It was empty on both sides, nothing very remarkable about it other than it's content. "Give this to Maria." He passed me he envelop. It had been folded twice to fit into Luke's pockets. "I've been writing it while we were on the road. Many papers got lost but this is the one..." I nodded. I put it in my pocket.

"She'll never have to read this one Luke. I'll keep my promise." I figured he would remember the promise I made him in Pittsburgh. If not, I did. I promised I would see him home even if it cost me my life. Luke was not dying today.

Behind the door was a giant area. An area as in the Colosseum. The floor was sand and there were seats all around it. There were hundreds of seats but no one was in them. There were screams and yells, but there were no people to make them. It was like an 80's sitcom which claimed to be filmed in front of a live audience. Other than the seats and sand there were cages, one to the left and to the right. I didn't know what was in there or if anything was there at all. Then there were the two demigods on the other side of the arena. Samael and Maximus. Samael wore black Greek battle armour and held Chaos-Eater, his giant sword in his right hand. Maximus on the other hand wore simple jeans and a t-shirt. He held a sword in his left hand and had half of a thick metal chain wrapped around his right arm, the other half rested on the ground beside his feet.. I didn't know how he intended to fight with that but Maximus would have found a way if he was carrying it into battle. I had drawn my weapon, and Luke turned his watch to the right and it turned into his sword. I hadn't seen this sword before. The sword he usually used was formed out of the pinky of his bronze hand. This sword was obviously not one of his own creations. It was meant for a king. It was the most masterful sword I had ever seen. It was celestial bronze which glowed with power. It's hilt was decorated beautifully and had a burning hammer engraved where the blade connected with the hilt. This sword had to be a gift from Luke's father. Only Hephaestus could have made a weapon like this. Samael and Maximus came closer. That's when I saw Luke's expression change. This was the first time he saw Samael without being passed out because of the car crash or having to take care of his nearly amputated leg.

"Dean?" Luke said. Dean? Did he just call Sameal Dean! Dean as in Darius...as in Darius Nikolas. No, that couldn't be. There was no way!

"So you know my real name." Samael said. It couldn't be. "Well first nickname I should say. I haven't been called Dean in so many years."

"You...you're dead. You died fighting..." Luke was cut off. He looked as shocked as I was. How could this monster be one of Jake's best friends? I remembered when I first met Jake they looked like anything but friends. How could this be the truth?

"fighting Hyperion yes yes that's the legend. The truth is I survived, but no one cared to check. I lay there broken beat and scarred for three days. Until my father finally claimed me." I couldn't believe it. This was Dean. One of the four most known heroes of our time. How could he be Samael! "Now enough with the chatter." Samael charged at me while Maximus launched his chain towards Luke. The chain connected with itself at Max's shoulder keeping it wrapped around his arm but making it possible for him to attack with the bottom half. Luke intercepted the chain with his sword while I dodged Samael's Chaos-Eater. He was able to attack me before I could do anything to him because of the giant reach of his sword. Blocking wasn't an option as his strength would crash through my defence easily. I had to find a way to get close to him. The sword was made to keep me at a distance but close quarters it would be pretty useless. Sadly I couldn't find a way through. His speed was as incredible as his strength. Just after I dodged the first attack he would strike at me with a second attack. I was quick enough each time, every time but once. I ducked underneath his blade when he struck at me again. I had no where to go. I Could dodge anyway. I had to block. I held Shadow-edge in front of me ready intercept Samael's blade. As our blades connected I felt every muscle in my body tense up. I needed everything I had to hold Samael's blade where it was and attacking barely cost him any strength. I would never survives like this. I was almost blown away by that first attack. A second one would do me in for sure. He attacked again this time he slashed his sword downwards. If it hit me I would be cut into two pieces. Luckily I was quick enough to dodge. I started running away from Samael. I needed a breather, if this continued I wouldn't last very long. Luke and Maximus were also fighting. Neither of them seemed to be hurt. Maximus was actually pretty good with the chain. It seemed as if he had been fighting with it his entire life. He swung the chain towards Luke and when that failed he followed up with his sword. Luke seemed to have no problem defending against Maximus. It was obvious that neither of them was fighting at their full capacity. Samael certainly wasn't. Samael followed me slowly, he was in no hurry to end this fight. Both of us had been waiting for this, although for me a lot changed. Samael was a person now. Something I had been trying to avoid. If I saw Samael as some kind of monster striking him down without mercy was easy now though I had a problem with that. Because the truth was I hadn't been giving it all I had. I could have used my glove but chose not to. Now here I was climbing the stands. Samael followed with the same calm expression as before. Nothing about this fight seemed to cause him any trouble at all. I was still climbing the seat trying to get as far away from Samael as I could. I was running out of seats. I was nearly at the top row. Samael walked holding his sword with ease. How did he wield that giant thing? The sword was nearly as tall as he was. From the top row I could see Luke and Maximus fighting on. Maximus attacked Luke with the chain and Luke blocked. The chain wrapped it self around the blade and Maximus tried to sweep Luke's legs. With his sword occupied getting out of this one seemed tough but Luke still had his bronze hand. He intercepted Maximus' sword with his bronze hand, it didn't even seem to be damaged. I couldn't waste more time watching them fight. Samael stood in front of me again. He slashed at me with his sword. I tried to dodge again. As I evaded his blade I started making my way down again. That was usually how I dodged his attacks. Just jump to the row of seats below. Samaels sword cut apart the marble seats like it was nothing. On our way back down he had destroyed at least a dozen seats. The pieces of marble flew around and both our hands and faces were showing traces of white dust. We were at the fourth row when He caught me again. I had to block his attack and this time I wasn't strong enough to keep standing. The force launched me backwards and I fell down the rows of chair. I bounced of the marble like a tennis ball until I landed in the sand. My entire body was bruised. I tried to get up but it was no use. I didn't have the strength any more. I tried to crawl away like a coward. I had to create distance between me and Samael. He started making his way down the stairs in the same manner as he had gone up. He knew I didn't have the strength to fight any more. It was over. I could see Luke and Maximus fighting. Luke had gotten the bronze sword out of his bronze pinky and was most playing it defensive, their fight was far more even than mine. That's when I heard something. Something snapped. Wood or something like that. It had been one of the cages. Out of the cage on the left came a giant scorpion. And I mean proper giant, elephant size. It was more amazing who were riding the thing. On the monsters back sat Alex and Hectar holding the reigns. I wondered if they knew how to drive a scorpion. They steered it straight at Samael making cowboy like noises (jokers till the end.) Samael didn't seem very worried. I stood in the sand ready for this thing to attack him as if it was any other monster.

"Scorpio express at the ready!" Alex screamed. The monster attack Samael with it's tail. I was wondering if Alex and Hectar had some way of making it do that or if it just wanted to attack the son of Phthonos. Samael wasn't even challenged by this thing. The tail moved so quick but Samael just dodged it's attack until he got bored. With Chaos-Eater he cut of the scorpions tail. The thing screamed and staggered nearly throwing Alex and Hectar of it's back. Now the thing was extremely pissed. It tried to attack with it's pincers but Samael just knocked them away as if they weren't able to crush his body like a can. After knocking another pincer away Samael stretched out his arms as far as they would go and slashed towards the monsters head. As it connected the monster disintegrated into dust leaving big piles in the sand. Alex and Hectar had nothing against Samael now. They should have ran as far as they could. I lay there broken, they might lie there dead. But they didn't run, they didn't cower away like I did. They fought. Both of them attacked Samael. They weren't great fighters but they kept him busy for a while. They didn't block his attacks or did any better in getting an attack against Samael but they tried and kept trying. I didn't understand how they could have survived for this long. Samael could have killed them in an instant. But they kept going. Were they better than I thought? No, they weren't. The reason they were still alive was because they wanted to be. They kept going until the end. I used to be like that. But this fight I hadn't been giving that intensity. I hadn't been willing to lay down my life to beat Samael. But they had, but even with that invincible state of mind they weren't capable of beating Samael, I was. With all my might I got to my feet. I was in so much pain, but it didn't matter. All that mattered was beating Samael. That was all that was important. I had to defeat him, I would defeat him. I stood there with my knee's shaking for a while but pretty soon I stabilized myself. Alex and Hectar had taken a step back from Samael now. They were breathing heavily, they really had been giving it their all. Samael stood there as if he hadn't been fighting at all. He hadn't broken a sweat.

"Alex, Hectar. Get out of here. This is my fight." I said. I held Shadow-edge tightly in my hand. With new found strength I put myself between Samael and Alex and Hectar.

"You've been doing a smash up job on your own so far!" Alex yelled. He obviously didn't want to be pulled away from this fight but even he realized that he wasn't going to be a factor in this fight.

"Is Lucio all right?" I asked ignoring what Alex had yelled. Samael stood there with his sword lowered. He wanted to fight me, Alex and Hectar had just been play things.

"Yeah, he's fighting the last few drones downstairs." Hectar replied.

"Good, go help him out." Alex didn't want to at first but Hectar got him to leave I got a look back to see where they went. In my glimpse I also saw Luke and Maximus fighting. Luke attacked Maximus with both sword, Maximus blocked with ease. With his chain he swiped Luke's legs who fell to the ground. Sound clouded around him. Maximus brought down his sword towards Luke but he blocked by crossing his swords. With a rolling manoeuvre he got himself to his feet and pulled Maximus' sword away from him. Maximus immediately attacked with the chain and as soon as I saw Luke defending himself I turned away. I still heard the clashes of steel behind me but I had to focus on Samael.

"So here we are Michael, finally decided to give it your all?" So he had noticed. But he was right, I was ready to fight with all I had. I couldn't hold back in this fight. Samael was too powerful for me to do that.

"I guess so." I didn't want to waste time chatting. Better to get this over with.

"In my way of thinking I beat you once and you beat me once. This is the big final Mikey."

"Then let's get it started!" I charged at him. I couldn't be defensive all the time. He blocked my attack, so I launched another strike. Our weapons collided again and again. He hadn't attack yet. He was smiling, this was no challenge to him. Eventually I pushed him to the marble barricade in front of the first row of seats. When he was pushed in the corner he started to attack. I dodged and dodged. When he tried to cut me in half I leaped over the barricade. The sword left a deep cut in the marble, to think that could have been me. Samael attacked me even when I was behind the barricade. He slashed vertically and cut straight through the barricade as if it butter. His strength still amazed me. I got over the barricade again kicking Samael in the face while I was at it. I brought myself upwards with my hands on the barricade and pushed my left heel into his face. It seemed to have hurt him slightly but nothing major. By the time I stood ready to attack Samael had gotten his sword out of the barricade and blocked my attack. He pushed me back, now he needed a breather. Was he finally showing a sign of fatigue? As I stood there I wanted to look how Luke was doing but I couldn't risk it. If I lost focus for a second Samael would exploit it.

"What happened to you Samael? You were a hero now look at you." I said.

"Shit happens Michael. I was left on a cliff for three days by your precious Jake. I acted like hero and that's how I ended up. Acknowledging my father was far easier than that. Don't you remember it Michael? No rules to follow or no one to care about? Wasn't that the better life?"

"We lost our humanity Dean!" I didn't know why I called him by his real name now. Maybe because I finally realized that this really was the person Jake had talked about so proudly. They had been through a lot together and this was how Dean had ended up. "How could you call that better! What we were...are. It's not good, it's not what we are meant to be. It's just the easy path we choose so we don't have to look at ourselves in the mirror. But you know what? You had a choice back them. When your father saved you, you didn't have to become this. You could have gone to Jake or Chiron. Instead this is the path you chose." He attacked me now. I blocked his attack. It didn't seem so heavy now. Maybe I could just counter before his next strike. Maybe I was still faster. I tried to cut his torso as quickly as I could and I got him. He stepped back, blood flowed from his wound. It wasn't very deep but it had to hurt pretty bad.

"We don't have to finish this Samael." I went back to calling him what I knew him as. "Help us defeat him. You can still turn back."

"There is no turning back Michael. Once you choose a path you can't change direction or double back. You just have to keep going. And right now in order to keep going one of us has to die here." Again he attacked. He tried to cut my legs but I blocked and slid my sword across his shins. Both of them were bleeding now. He started to weaken, I could feel it. I hadn't won yet, I couldn't lose focus.

"If you had made the right choice...then maybe Jake would still be alive. Without you Phthonos wouldn't have killed him. Or at least you could have been there as a friend." I said. Samael's face changed. He didn't know Phthonos killed Jake. He knew Jake died...but he didn't know how. Now he attacked again. He stabbed towards me but he had lost his original strength and speed. I stepped aside and as he passed me I cut open his back. He fell to the ground and dropped his sword. "That's 2 against 1 Samael. Game over." I kicked away Chaos-Eater as far as I could. If he wanted his weapon he was going to have to crawl for it. The wounds weren't fatal, not immediately anyway. But I had to stop Phthonos now, then I would take him back to camp and decide what to do with him there. Chiron had a better sense for those things than I did. Samael was in pain. But I had other things to deal with. "I'm sorry it had to end this way Samael." I said as I walked away. Luke and Maximus were still fighting. Both seemed pretty much unharmed other than a few scratches. I had to get to Phthonos, I had to face the god of Malice, ill will and jealousy.

I walked through the gate where Maximus and Samael had emerged from. I was pretty much teleported to a mountain top. It was the place where Jake, Sophie, Ashlyn and Dean had fought Hyperion. Right underneath my feet he lay dormant, and Phthonos was here to give someone that power. It was raining and thunder struck every minute. At the other end of the natural plateau we were standing on stood Phthonos. The same smile and destructive eyes. He wore a suit like he had when I saw him in my dream. The rain didn't effect him as it did me. He was completely dry. The sky was dark, but it wasn't night. Phthonos was doing this. I didn't know why he would want me in my favourite state but it didn't matter.

"So Michael, here we are. The place I've been trying to get you for ten years now." Phthonos said. The sound of thunder filled the air. Phthonos' voice was loud and clear even over the natural violence.

"I came here because I wanted to, it was my choice." Phthonos chuckled.

"If that's what you want to believe." Phthonos said. I knew I was wrong. I had been led here one way or another. I wasn't sure if it was the plan Jake had talked about or if it had been Phthonos all along, but I hadn't come here because it was what I wanted. "I'll give you a choice though. It's one to think about." Out of his pocket he got a small pendant in the shape of an owl. Messor, the real one. He threw it to me. "I give you a chance to become the most powerful mortal being in this world. All you have to do is accept." I was shocked. I caught the pendant and held it in my hand. I could see the lock in the floor. A small gap between the rocks. All that power. With that I could easily defeat Phthonos. I could do anything. No one could threaten camp ever again. I would be able to do Jake proud, do my dad proud. I could finally redeem myself for my mistakes. I made my way to the lock. I had to make the right choice here. I knew that Phthonos was tricking me...but could I really let this power slip away? I could do so much good, all I had to do was stick the knife into the lock. I pushed the pendant turning it into a shinning silver dagger. That's when Maximus appeared on the mountain. The chain still wrapped around his arm and his sword in hand. The sword was bloody...could it be true? Had Maximus killed Luke? No, that wasn't possible. Sane thoughts started to enter my head again. I couldn't take this power. It would control me, Phthonos would control me. Luke had died fighting to defeat Phthonos. I wouldn't stain his memory by falling for Phthonos' tricks.

"You're wrong Phthonos. You believe I'm nothing more than your puppet. But I make my own choices. Not you, not Jake." I threw the dagger at Phthonos. Maximus intercepted it with his chain, it was the second time he saved me by saving his master. That's when he did something unexpected. He changed the chains direction and wrapped it around Phthonos' neck. With all his might he started choking the god. Phthonos seemed to be effected in a way although I didn't think god's actually breathed.

"Angel, get him. Take him to Hades." I hesitated for a second. I didn't understand what Maximus was doing. Was he finally fighting his master? Was this what the line meant? That's when my hesitation exceeded it's time limit. Phthonos had broken free. Not just that, he could use every bit of his power against Maximus. His servant had attacked him, a big mistake. Phthonos raised his hand and Maximus' chain started glowing red. It was burning at extreme temperature. It was so hot it burned itself into his skin. Maximus collapsed and grabbed his arm. The chain was making his way deeper and deeper into his arm until the wound started to close. His arm was merging with the chain. Maximus was losing control. His arm was shaking uncontrollably and his face showed no expression. He wasn't dead, the excruciating pain had driven him into shock. At that moment I didn't know if he would ever be fine.

"Since you served me well for almost ten years I'll leave it at that for now Maxi." Phthonos said with a sadistic smile on his face. That's when another person appeared. It was Luke. He had a small cut on his arm, and leg, was that the blood on Maximus' sword? He seemed fine other than that. He held only one sword now, the one I figured was given to him by Hephaestus. Luke ran towards Phthonos and cut open his back. Phthonos seemed staggered for a while and just as he wanted to destroy Luke an arrow flew at his head. Lucio had joined the scene. Phthonos caught the arrow in mid air, his reflexes were pretty damn good. The tip of the arrow had made a small cut in Phthonos hand. Golden Ichor flew from his hand as well as his back. "Did you just attack me son of Hypnos?" Phthonos raised his hand towards Lucio. All the daggers he carried in his coat, belt, jeans levitated around Lucio until Phthonos closed his palm. The daggers all flew straight towards Lucio. He got impaled by at least ten daggers. He had a vague expression on his face for a second until he fell to the ground. The pain was like the sting of a bee, after that he was dead quickly. He was bleeding badly. Blood flew out of his wounds creating a blood bath around the young boy's body.

"Lucio!" I screamed. "You!" I lunged at Phthonos. He stepped to the side but my sword cut his face. I was doomed just like the others.

"You know..." Phthonos looked at the arrow he still had in his hand. "I could throw this at you with ease. But I don't think that would hurt you as much as this would." Phthonos threw the arrow at Luke. It was aimed right at his heart. As fast as I could I sprinted and leaped. I promised him he would return home, this was how I kept my promise. The arrow pierced my chest instead of Luke's. I had trouble breathing. The pain was horrible. Blood flew from my wound. I knew I was done for. But I had kept my promise to Luke. Sadly it wouldn't mean much. We weren't going to defeat Phthonos. Luke would still die here. All of this was for nothing. Lucio was dead. I was dying and everyone else who touched Phthonos would be destroyed. He was too powerful. "Such loyalty Michael. You were always too loyal. Your only real flaw. You were willing to die for those weak mortals that you called your friends. And now you die for a son of Hephaestus." Phthonos mocked me till the end. If I didn't try to breathe with all my might I would have said something. But choking on my own blood and talking didn't really go together. Luke stood there stunned. He could try to attack Phthonos but that wouldn't make a difference any more. It was all over. That's when a celestial bronze crooked sword pierced Phthonos from behind.

'By his finest soldier in the end opposed'

Samael had pierced his father from the back. Golden Ichor flowed and Phthonos looked in serious pain. He was as surprised as I was. His own son had betrayed him. The sword he had given him had defeated him. His own blood dripped on the ground.

"Get him Michael!" Samael screamed. I didn't hesitate. Even with the pain in my chest I got up and sprinted towards Phthonos. But he was faster than I was. A sword appeared in his hands and he slashed backwards. I couldn't see if Samael was al lright. I had to worry about Phthonos now. He looked at me with a look I would never expect form him, terror. I tackled him and disappeared into the darkness.

I appeared in Hades' throne room breathing heavily. My lung had collapsed and I breathed with a high squealing breathe. I was choking slowly. I was going to die, but I had defeated Phthonos. I saw Hades with an evil smile on his face. Phthonos said there in the middle of the room on his knees. His divine blood dripped on the floor of Hades' palace. Chaos-Eater was still inside him. Half of the sword was sticking out of the front, Samael had fully pierced Phthonos. Phthonos seemed so powerless now. Of course I was dying but I was never really powerful.

"So you completed your task son of Erebus." Hades said. Phthonos looked up at the lord of the underworld with a vague expression. He knew that Hades would torture him for a very long time. And Phthonos didn't seem like the kind of guy that handled pain very well. I was still trying to breathe. My blood was also flowing on the floor. "You having some trouble over there Michael? Let me help you with that." The pain in my chest got worse tenfold for a second, then it was gone. My lung had healed, the arrow was gone, and I had stopped bleeding. I could breathe again. The first few breathes were heavy and rapid but after a few breathes I controlled myself again. "So Phthonos...you and I have some things to discuss." Hades waved his hand and Phthonos erupted in flames. "Transporting someone to Tartarus is so much fun." Hades said. He looked at me now. "You did well Michael. But now you're not welcome here any more. I'll give you ten seconds before I'll bring Cerberus in here." I smiled. This was obviously his way of a thank you.

"You're welcome Hades."

"I'm the one that did you a favour son of Erebus. Now you have three seconds!" And like that...I was gone.

I reappeared on the mountain. Lucio's corpse still lay there. The second child of Hypnos I was responsible for. Or at least that's how I felt it was. Lucio had died fighting Phthonos. He was a true hero. He didn't deserve this kind of death. His body was deformed by all the knives sticking into him. It was a horrible sight. Maximus lay on the ground unconscious. The chain had fully merged with his arm. It led from his collar bone till his wrist where the bottom part which wasn't wrapped around his arm began. He definitely needed to go to the infirmary when we were back. Luke was standing over Samael's body. He was still breathing although he was heavily wounded. His blood was flowing and being washed over the rocks by the rain. He was dying, there was nothing we could do about it.

"Michael? Is that you?" He asked as I neared him.

"It's me." I said slowly. I didn't know what to say to him. He had tried to kill me so many times. He had turned me into a monster and here he was dying. He died to defeat Phthonos. He died a hero.

"I'm so sorry Michael. For everything I did to you." Samael said. He had tried to kill me multiple times. He did some horrible things but seeing him like that I remembered why I followed him at one point in my life. We were alike. Max, Dean and I, we were the same. Phthonos made us that way. It was what made us the people we had become. The people we regretted to be. And now one of us was dying.

"It's all right. We both turned out fine in the end." Samael laughed shortly, in the end it turned into a series of heavy breathes. He didn't have long left.

"I guess we did. Jake was right to take you in. You've become a good person Angel." It was the first time he called me by my new name. He knew me as Michael and even though I wasn't that person any more habits die hard. "I wish I had a chance to become like you."

"You are Dean. You have nothing to feel ashamed of. You fought until the end." He nodded. His breathing started to calm down. His painful expression turned calm. He breathed his final breathe right there. I turned away from his body. It was hard to see. He had been a friend for a short time. I hated him for so long but seeing him like this, it hurt. I walked to the edge of the plateau. The clouds above us started to open. The sun came through. It was still raining pretty badly but I could see the light. "We did it Luke. We actually did it." Luke nodded behind me. It had cost us all much. Lucio was dead, Samael was dead, Maximus had a chain burned in his arm. But we did it. I was feeling so tired now. I had no energy left. I dropped myself backwards. Falling on solid rock hurt but I was already half asleep. I needed a well deserved nap now. I didn't care if it was on rock. I lay there with a smile on my face. The last thing I saw before dozing off was Alex and Hectar appearing on the mountain. They had finally found their way. And I had found mine. I closed my eyes and entered the world of dreams. And for the first time in a while, it wasn't a nightmare.


	30. Say Goodbye

AN: So this is the end of the first of five parts. I hope you liked it and I will start posting the second part as soon as I can. I don't think any of them will ever see this but I'd like to thank Rick Riorden for writing the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series and say that I own nothing of it. Secondly I'd like to thank the people from for giving me the characters and ideas to write this story.

Chapter 30: Say goodbye

Two weeks later

I stood on half-blood hill overlooking the valley in which lay camp half-blood. Not far from me stood a pine tree guarded by a full grown dragon. On the tree hung the golden fleece, the magical power that kept camp safe. Looking down I could see camp half-blood. The cabins, the beach, the big house. It hadn't changed at all. I had, people had but camp half-blood was a force that wouldn't change. It would always be a place to call home, a safe haven for demigods. I had only been at camp for a few months and a lot of that time I spend in a cage. But camp had become home like. After the five of us returned home we were saluted as heroes. At camp they never knew that Maximus had joined the enemy or that Samael was Darius Nikolas in truth. It was better to hide these things. We never found out Samael's real name but in the end he chose the right path. That's the story we told anyway. Luke told me how we got back to camp once I came to my senses. With Alex and Hectar he had contacted camp through Iris messaging. Luke had covered up Samael's face and made sure no one but him, Alex and Hectar got to see it. I was surprised that dumb and dumber were able to keep their mouths shut but no one knew yet. No one but Ashlyn. When they told me I said she deserved to know and they all agreed. She couldn't believe it at first but she didn't really have a choice in the end. It was the truth, no matter how hard you try you can't deny the truth.

Lucio's death was something that hit camp hard. Both the children of Hypnos died in such short time. Lucio was given his final rites in the amphitheatre at camp. Everyone was there. No one had gotten to see his body. The state of it still haunted my memories. Lucio didn't deserve that. But I couldn't turn back what happened. Lucio would be remembered a hero and he would probably be allowed to enter Elysium. That was what I had to hope for anyway. I wondered if he had forgiven me in the end. I doubted it. He followed me in that final battle but did he truly trust me? I would never know. I had meddled with the dead and it hadn't given me much but trouble. It was better to let Lucio's spirit rest and get my answer once I passed on.

As I made my way down the hill I saw two people sitting at the base of it. There was a girl with red hair, and a boy with wild brown hair. I could only see their backs making it impossible for me to see who they were. I walked past them with my hands in my jumper pockets. I tried to walk casually but I always found that hard to do so when I came from uphill. Once I was at a distance I looked back as my curiosity won. At the base of the hill sat Colin Price with a girl who I guessed was Summer Rhodes, his ex-girlfriend (I didn't know yet that I could leave ex out of it.) He looked very different than before. He had washed up, cut his hair and seemed less wild like. More importantly, he smiled. I could look at him without feeling any sort of hatred. The truth was, I felt happier than before. People were calling me a hero and a saviour but all I had seen as a result of my quest was death. This was the first thing I had seen that had changed. Colin's curse was broken when Phthonos was send to Tartarus. Dean was dead, Lucio was dead, but Colin had been revived. I smiled as he turned his head towards me. Only now he noticed me. When he saw me he nodded, a silent thanks. I grinned, shook my head to the girl sitting next to him and gave him the thumbs up. She was a pretty girl and from the stories I heard she cared about him a lot. He needed to make a move. He laughed and turned back to the girl. I walked on with a smile on my face knowing I had done some good.

The backpack I carried wasn't very heavy, it only had the essentials. I never needed more. Most of my life I had less than the essential so having that was a big step for me. I had some places to go though, first place was the Erebus cabin. The last week I had still spent in the Hermes cabin as everyone there insisted. I spend the entire week telling stories and stuff to the unclaimed. It felt so weird. We were all treated like celebrities and we all handled it differently. Alex and Hectar loved the attention. They acted like they were the greatest heroes of the world and exaggerated the truth many times. Although they had impressed me a great deal. They never said a thing about Dean or Maximus' betrayal. And in a way they deserved the attention. They had been real heroes. They weren't the ones that defeated Phthonos, in the end it was Dean who did that. But they had fought till the end, that was what I called heroic. Luke was very relaxed and pretty much stayed the same when we returned. He spend his time in the forges making weapons for everyone who needed them. I remembered not long after I regained my consciousness we walked down the hill and groups of demigods ran towards us. The first one there were Grace and Maria. Grace was jumping around happy that we were all all right. Maria jumped Luke and wouldn't let go of him for ten minutes. Or at least that's what it seemed like, my head was still fuzzy. She looked at me and smiled. Her thanks for keeping Luke safe. She never actually used those words but that's what I figured it meant. After that they had little time for the two of them. We got welcomed by campers and then got lectured by Chiron. He wasn't very happy with any of us leaving but he did congratulate us in the end. Maximus and I reacted very differently. We didn't really like any of the attention. And Maximus was the lucky one (if you can call it that.) Because of what happened he had spend the last weeks in the infirmary and everyone was kept out. I on the other hand was in the centre of attention. I dealt with it at first but truth was it was part of the reason why I had that backpack.

The Erebus cabin was pure darkness. I had never seen anything like that. It was solid shadow. It was black but kind of cloudy as if it wasn't really there but when you put your hand against it you could feel a wall, sort of. It was a weird thing, I guess you have to be a child of Erebus to actually understand it. Inside there were eight bunks and if I had to believe Erebus they were never all taken. There was a sink right to the left with a mirror but other than that the cabin was empty. Nothing but the essentials. I walked further into the cabin, this was where I belonged. I believe that any other would have felt uncomfortable with that idea but not me. I liked it. I never had the feeling of belonging but this cabin gave me just that. It was a weird feeling, something I thought I would never have but now I did.

"Feeling right at home?" A man said behind me. I recognized his voice. I wasn't shocked, of course my father would come here. I wondered what he wanted. I had completed my quest, what else did he want me to do? He had admitted that he doubted that I could defeat Phthonos but I had. In my opinion he owed me an engraved apology.

"I guess, it's very cosy." I said sarcastically. It was an empty cabin. Although I didn't mind that. I just wanted to spite my dad in order to play the rebellious teenager. Me being a bastard towards my dad was the only regular teenage stuff that I did. Of course with my dad it was dumber than if your dad was Muhammad Ali.

"It's not very home like I know. But neither of us know a true home. I don't appear like a hobo because I like it. Truth is I wouldn't mind a nice Italian suit but it's not something that fits me." Erebus said. "The darkness has no real home. It exist everywhere like a man of the road. So that's what I appear as. Who knows more of the darkness than those who live in it?" I had never figured Erebus for a wise man, but apparently my first impression had been wrong. Of course he gave me a good reason to have a bad first impression. Trying to kill your son wasn't very good family bonding.

"So what, this isn't my home in your opinion?" I said to him. I wondered what his point was. Erebus didn't seem like the god who enjoyed small talk. He was going somewhere with this.

"If it was your home, would you have be carrying that bag?" Erebus said. He shut me right up with that. It was the truth. I wouldn't have had it if I had my place right here. "I don't have much time. I'm here to tell you that you did well. I didn't expect you to." Erebus said again. It didn't sound like a very convincing congratulation but hell it was all I would get.

"Thanks." I said. He nodded and disappeared. My dad, not a man with much empathy in my opinion. Of course he wasn't really a man, more a personification. I didn't really know for sure. I left the cabin still carrying the bag. The sun light hurt my eyes slightly. Inside the cabin there wasn't much light. You could see but it wasn't the sun lighting the place up. Going outside nearly blinded me. I had one more place to go before I'd go back up that hill. The infirmary.

Maximus had been in the infirmary ever since we came back. The chain had fully burned into his arm but the Apollo kids and Chiron wanted to make sure there was nothing they could do to remove it. As Maximus lay in his bed more bad news came. There was nothing they could do. Maximus could still use every muscle in his arm (miraculous as that may be) but the chain was still there. It didn't hurt or make anything impossible, but the chain was still there. An eternal reminder of what had happened in our fight against Phthonos. And that's what made it a heavy burden.

I myself had been in the infirmary many times, too many times given how short I had been at camp. Maximus lay in a bed at the end of the room. He wasn't asleep, he was just laying there being bored probably. His head rested on his left arm while his right arm hid under the covers. Maximus didn't like to look at it himself, he hated it. He felt the cold steel at all times, seeing it would make it even worse.

"Hey Max." I said as I came closer. I sat down on the bed next to the one he was laying in. They were comfy beds, I knew that from experience although laying in them was never a happy experience.

"Hey bro, what's up?" Maximus said without moving an inch. I let the bag slid over my shoulder and put it on the bed. It was literally a weight of my shoulders. I stretched out my arms to relax the muscles for a bit as I answered Maximus.

"Nothing much, just wondering if you had any news." I said. I hadn't been in the infirmary for a few days and hadn't heard the latest scoops, maybe there was nothing but given Maximus' sincere expression I doubted that. Maximus pulled his arm from underneath the covers. The thick chain stuck in multiple places, if he held his arm up you could see it move around his arm. Around his elbow the chain seemed a bit loose which made it possible for him to use the joint. The chain disconnected from his arm just before his hand at the bottom of his wrist. They had already removed that part. The bottom of the chain wasn't long now, it barely reached the tip of Maximus' fingers.

"It's been burned in pretty deep. Parts have burned into my bones they say. There's no way they can remove it without me losing movement in my arm. It's either a fake arm which Luke says isn't that bad or keeping this thing." Luke would know about those things. He had a bronze hand and he seemed to be handling it just fine. Of course that hadn't always been like that. When he had first made the hand with help from his little brother he hated it but that was some years ago. "The other option was Luke making me something, turning this into a weapon you know. Hell I'm pretty good with a chain." That sounded like his best option. "He says it'll take time but he'll figure it out. Until then I'm stuck with this thing I guess." Maximus said. He sounded a bit down about it but it seemed like he had some good options.

"Good luck man. If anyone can turn this into something positive it's Luke you know that." I got up and put on the backpack again.

"You're coming to visit sometime right?" I hadn't actually told him of what I was going to do, but I guess he knew me well enough. He didn't need to be told.

"Yeah." I said nodding slightly. I wasn't sure that I would. I didn't know where I was going yet much less if I was ever coming back. Maybe if I had to. "Don't tell the others before I'm gone. I hate goodbye's." I said. Maximus just nodded. I started moving towards the door. After passing two sets of beds I turned around. "Should I expect you following sometime in the future." Maximus didn't seem like the kind of person to stick around in one place for long so maybe he would do the same thing I was doing at some point.

"I doubt it. I've been on the road for a long time. It might be nice to settle for some time you know." Maximus said. I grinned and nodded.

"I'll see you around Max."

My way towards the hill was slightly weird. People staring, pointing and whispering. Me with a backpack didn't predict much good. I walked the same route back and as I passed the Iris cabin someone came out. It was Grace Harper, the first person I had met at camp.

"You're leaving again I see." She said. It made me wonder if anyone didn't know I was leaving. "You know you could have just said so. Sneaking out in the middle of the day isn't very effective." She said.

"I just hate saying goodbye, and I'll be back." Of course I didn't know that for sure but it might get Grace to let me go without trouble. I figured she would. There was no point in keeping me here. I was happy that I could leave. If Colt was still around there was no way I could. But he was gone, it was only me now. It was a sense of freedom I doubted I would ever feel again.

"I hope so." Grace said. She jumped me with a tackle hug. I didn't really know what to do so I pretty much just stood there. "Just keep safe all right." I nodded and she let go. She smiled and went back inside the cabin. I was hoping that would be the last goodbye. I continued trotting my way towards the road. The points and stares seemed to have doubled now. I ignored it. None of them understood why I was leaving, my friends did. I was never one to stick around. And now that I had a chance to leave I was going to take it. I was a nomad, it was just the way it was. Settling down somewhere never to leave again was very weird for me. I couldn't do that sort of thing. Where I lay my head is home.

Walking up the hill was tougher than walking down, that was for sure. I could feel the muscles in my leg aching. They had gotten a lot stronger over the course of the quest. I had done a lot of walking. I guess all of us had. I turned back once more when I reached the top. Camp life would continue without me there was no doubt about it. I wondered how long it would be before I saw camp half-blood again. Months, years? Unlike Jake I couldn't predict the future. It was better that I didn't. At least now I could enjoy peace instead of fearing the next danger. I didn't know if the next disaster would hit in my lifetime. I hoped not but if it did I would be ready. I wasn't going to slack off. I'd get stronger and when anything else went down I would be there. As I was ready to walk on, a woman appeared, Athena. I hadn't seen her since before the quest began. She had been the one who told me about Phthonos' plans, the one that started all this. And here she was.

"Hello again Angel." She seemed kind. She had been the nicest god I had met that was certain.

"Athena." I nodded my head. I wasn't going to bow down but it was my way of showing her respect.

"You did well Angel. I knew you could do it. I feel sad about Dean. I had hoped he would find his way here again." Athena said. She had helped Jake in the past and I figured that she had helped the other three as well. She must have known from the start.

"He remembered who he was in the end. He redeemed himself." I said.

"Indeed he did. I gained notice from my uncle that he was allowed into Elysium, as was the son of Hypnos." I was happy to hear that. At least they got the respect they deserved in the afterlife.

"That's good to hear." I said.

"You still have it don't you?" She asked me. I knew what she was talking about. Out of my pocket I had gotten a small pendant in the shape of an owl. Messor. Luke had given it to me after the fight. I had kept it with me ever since.

"It's too dangerous in the world of men Athena. Especially in my hands." I had my fears. I knew Colt wasn't completely gone. He was still a part of me. A dormant one but he was there.

"Then you understand? You killed Colt but your darkness isn't gone Angel. Keep it under control. And don't worry about the dagger. I asked Hephaestus to craft a new lock. It's key will be secure trust me." Athena said. I nodded.

"In that case I would like to keep it." I said. Athena smiled.

"It's yours Angel." She turned away. She didn't disappear suddenly like last time. "Farewell." As she walked she started to fade. To me Athena's visit meant that it was truly over. Phthonos was gone.

As I took my first few steps towards the road I was already stopped. No one was letting me leave in peace today. Maybe I should have gone the day before, or the day after. But today no one let me be. "Leaving without goodbye?" Luke said.

"Did everyone see this coming?" I asked him.

"Yeah pretty much. You're not one to stick around." So they did know me. "You really don't like goodbye's do you?" He asked me, in return I shook my head. "Well tough luck." He said. He came a bit closer towards me walking up the hill. "I knew you were never going to stay mate but I wish you could. You haven't been here long but this place is different without you here. We've been through a lot of shit together." I nodded. This was exactly the reason why I hated goodbye's. "You sure you don't want to stay until summer's end? Most demigods will be going to school then. You'll leave with the mass you know. It would piss of Chiron less than you just leaving.

"Nah, I don't want to wait. Besides I'll be back someday. I think I'll miss this place." I said. It was true. Especially if I had been alone, I would have started to miss this place. Of course as it turned out, I wasn't.

"You better come back. I'm going to need my best man for the wedding." Luke looked at me with a grin. I was completely shocked. "She said yes. We haven't got a date or anything yet but...we're getting married. I want you to be my best man."

"Me?" I was honoured. Me and Luke were friends hell yeah but best man. I didn't think I'd ever be anyone's best man.

"Yeah you. So do you want to?" He didn't even need to ask.

"Hell yeah." I was still amazed that he wanted me to be his best man, but I was going to be the best best man there ever was.

"Awesome. I'll see you around Angel. I'll send you an Iris message some time. Just throw in one of those drachmas you stole out of the storage room." He really knew me too well. I just laughed as we went our separate ways. I started making my way to the road as he walked down the hill towards camp.

The asphalt under my feet felt pretty good. I had only been off the road for two weeks but being back on made me feel a lot better. I was one for the road that was for sure. I would probably get to New York by nightfall. I was planning on spending the night at Jake's before moving on. I didn't really know where I was going to go. I would probably move from town to town spending less than a month at each town. If I could find a job to build up my cash stash at every town I would live. I hadn't really figured everything out yet but that didn't matter. After all none of that planning worked out anyway. I didn't know that when I started my travel though. As I walked I remembered something. The envelope Luke had given me before we entered the arena, the letter in case of his passing. I know that what I did was wrong, I had no right but I was curious. I got the envelope out of my pocket and started reading. It took me a while given my dyslexia but I got it eventually.

_ 'Maria,_

_I'm writing this in case I don't make it back to you. We both know there is a high chance of that happening, and it was a fact I accepted before I went on this quest. The life of a demigod is always short, and always an adventure, a quest been the largest we could go on, something we all hope for. And this is one of the most important things I've ever done. It seems we're battling not just Phthonos and Colt, but also someone from Angel's past called Samael, and we were betrayed by Maximus. Alex and Hectar have joined us, and to be honest, they're both idiots, though they're kinda funny. They're so young, though, and I feel like it's my responsibility to look out for them, like I would with any other demigod._

_I just want you to know that if I do die, I want you to carry on with your life. Train, carry on talking to your friends, and live life to the fullest, like each day is your last. Because for all we know, it could be. If I die, I hope you eventually find someone else who makes you happy. My heart has always been yours, and always will be. Since the first time I saw you, I knew there was something there. We've been through a lot, more than most couples can handle, and we've come out of it stronger. All the stuff that happened with Nox and with Mack, all the monsters and pranks, all the claimings, new kids and deaths... they've brought us closer together. It's not been easy, but we've made it. And if I make it back, I have a surprise for you, hopefully one you'll like. If I don't, then you'll get this letter from Angel or anyone who survives this ordeal, along with what I have to give to you._

_Please, don't worry about me. Whatever happens has been planned by the Fates, and you can't argue with them. Whether I live or die, I'll accept it. I just hope I've changed enough to get into Elysium. To me, the Fields of Asphodel seem just as bad as the Fields of Punishment. And if I die, you know I'll go out fighting. I'd give my life for the success of this quest, but I won't give it up that easily. If it happens, then please... if I have any other siblings claimed, my tools are theirs. Look after them for me - both my siblings, and my tools._

_My letter seems to be a bit like me here, eh? Heh, here I am, rambling on as always. I'm rubbish at writing letters, and just as bad at saying goodbye. No matter what, though, remember I love you. I'll see you soon, and if I don't, I'll be waiting for you._

_All my love,  
>Luke'<em>

When I finished reading the letter I felt pretty bad about reading it. It really hadn't been my right. The thing was thought that Luke had survived. I could pretty much bin the letter. But I chose not to because after all in my opinion not much in this letter could change. Before Colt was destroyed I had given up on love, and I would again if Luke and Maria would break up. This letter proved that. Till death do us part, no line was ever more fitting.

I was barely half a mile from camp when I met another hiker. I saw someone come from far away, this person was moving towards camp. It would be weird since it was nearly the end of Summer which usually meant people leaving rather than coming in. Maybe it was a newbie. I didn't know. As I neared the person I could make out it was a girl. She had blonde hair that came to her chest and was shorter than me. More than that I couldn't make out. As I came closer I started to recognize her. She had green eyes and the most beautiful face I had ever seen. She looked a lot more ragged than the last time I saw her but beautiful none the less. Most Aphrodite kids were all make-up but they all had a natural beauty that they hardly showed. She still looked as fine as she could though. She was a year younger than me, a fact that I knew rather than one I could see. Her name was Sophie Brighton. One of the two remaining demigods that fought Hyperion. The one that disappeared after Jake's death stood in front of me.

"Hey Michael."

"Sophie?"

"Yeah it's me. You and I have work to do."


End file.
